


A Tale of Eclipsed Moon and Eclipsed Sun

by DarkOwlFeather



Series: Retelling Corona's Tales [2]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Basically what if Cass had lived her childhood with Gothel at the cottage, Childhood till Early Aduldhood, Direct Sequel to Part I.Beginnings, Escape, From before Cassandra's birth to the movie's time, Gen, It's dark but things will be better in time, Kidnapping, Magic, Not Beta Read, Pregnancy, Raps is still in the Tower, child maltreatment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27797335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkOwlFeather/pseuds/DarkOwlFeather
Summary: Sequel to Retelling Corona's Tales: Part I. Beginnings.Times has passed. Demanitus is dead of old age, Zhan Tiri is trapped away.After years learning from them, and centuries living thanks to the Sundrop, time slowly catches up with Gothel, who for so long has put it away. Of all things she could do, of all possibilities she could choose, there is one she thinks as the best option.Yet, will everything that Gothel plan ahead play as she wishes it to?
Relationships: Captain of Corona's Guard & Cassandra (Disney), Cassandra & Gothel (Disney: Tangled), Cassandra & Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Gothel & Xavier (Tangled)
Series: Retelling Corona's Tales [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997140
Comments: 29
Kudos: 38





	1. Annex on magic

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the first part ["Beginnings"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27347623/chapters/66820078) if you haven't.  
> It's really setting up the characters and the story. The first part was still canon compliant, set before the time of the canon and filling some of the lore-related plot holes. This second part will really be canon divergent, starting directly after all that was set in Beginnings.  
> (The TL;DR in the summary is far from saying all that's to know about the context of this story.)
> 
> .  
> ..  
> ...
> 
> Let's go! ^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter is not part of the narrative, more like an annex prior to the second part and the next. It is not canon, but used in my storytelling.
> 
> You can read it or skip it, it shouldn’t bother the understanding of the rest of the story.  
> It’s more a way for me to be sure I’m consistent in the use of magic I write, and for you to understand how I view magic in this world. Of course, it might sound similar to how magic works in other fictional worlds that could have inspired me.  
> I'm not 100% sure how the explanations will sound, but of course, it's not meant to be condescending at all (which is oddly enough the impression I have whenever I'm rereading that annex but well, it wouldn't be the first time I'm ultra critical on my writing ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ )

In the world where Corona and the seven kingdoms exist, there is magic.

As I don’t recall of any canon origin or explanation on how magic works in this world, I’ll present in this annex how I considered magic for this story (might not be the case for my other Tangled stories).

This annex will surely be updated for plot reasons if needed, because the story is far from fully written while I’m publishing this, so it will most certainly evolve, while staying in the rules I already set first hand, of course.

First, we’ll see where magic comes from. Then, the three kinds of magic uses, spells in a way, that I will write in the story.

Magic in the world where Corona is, is everywhere. Everything and everyone hold a part of magic. That’s not to say everyone is a mage. Like most of things that aren’t fully instinct, magic has to be learned. A bit like in our world where there are cars pretty much everywhere nowadays, you still have to learn how to drive.

In Corona and beyond its frontier, every animal, plant, mineral holds a sample of magic. These magics have different uses. A bit like the chemicals in plants that can either heal and cure or injure and kill, or be neutral, or even something totally different. Some things have names that are a nod to their magic use, with the etymology, their forms.

It’s like a kind of doctrine of signatures, applied to magic instead of early medicine. I won’t cite the first example used in later chapters, but let’s take eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis), used in early medicine to cure eyes, could have a magical use to see through someone’s eyes, or even, make them blind for the time decided by a spell and the user’s experience.

As for the things we know in the canon, this works too. Of course, there is already the strong symbolic of sun/life and moon/death, but there’s also the drop/flow and stone/hard. And the Sundrop and Moonstone, as magical artifact of themselves, hold a large inherent power.

Artifacts that hold a power that had been transferred, such as the many artifacts in the Spire, could have gained their magical properties through spells using naturally magical elements, plants, animals, minerals. Or even stronger artifacts, so a non-magical rock could receive power or influence from, on the off chance, the Moonstone, and create the Mind Trap.

Mages, sorcerers, wizards, all those who use magic may have some predisposition to it. That’s not to say you have to be born a way to use magic. It’s an art of sort, like drawing or sculpting, it comes with times. Of course, some beings depending of their origins can be more sensitive, receptive to the magic flow in the world. As for the characters that already appeared in this story, Zhan Tiri and her minions from another world are more sensitive to magic than humans like Demanitus, Xavier and Gothel, Sundrop or not.

There could be a parallel between magic and immunity, diseases. The same way some people are more sensitive to some diseases, some people are more sensitive to magic. Magic would come as well with genetic, more with experience, and in the very least lifestyle (e.g. depending of the quantity of magic in the place you live in).

TL; DR: in itself, the efficacy of the spells mostly depends of the mage’s ability to channel, catalyze in a way, these magical energies resting naturally in the environment.

It is to be noticed too that when a mage uses magic, they will use what is around them, but as well leave a magical trace. Depending of how it was left, with what spell, it can affect other people or not. This kind of residual magic is tricky.

But this is maybe going a bit too far for a simple explanation over magic, so on to the next point ^^

I consider for this story that there are several types of magic uses. Magic can be used mainly in two forms, that are spells and potions.

Spells come from the gathering of magical energy around the caster, energy that is particularly specific, like some sort of magical totipotency in a way, the caster is the one to specialize the energy, to mold it into what spell they want to cast.

Potions, unguents, or whatever physical form this other magic use takes comes from the inborn magic of all that exists, plants, animals, minerals, etc. This magic is already specific, differentiated. And so, the mage has to choose, to select the right varieties, species to prepare the potion, like a recipe.

Among spells and potions, we can distinguish three main types of use of this magic, mostly depending of the importance, danger of said magic and spells, associated to the knowledge of each magic user. I’ll explain here for spells, as for potions, the effects depends of the inherent specific magic in each existing thing.

The first one is the type of common magic.

This magic is a magic basically everybody could learn. It relies mostly on small spells, one words to a small sentence for the most advanced spells of this category. Depending of the wizard’s mastery over magic, some spells may be cast without any words. A gesture, a movement of one or two hands is often needed to cast this spell. These spells could be set in two categories: movement and creation.

Movement spells, as their name says it, can move objects, of a relatively small size, depending of the caster’s expertise. It could include teleportation spells, for humans and objects alike, with the limitation that the caster has to know the destination with exactitude and that the distance depends of the caster’s mastery.

Creation spells can mostly create elements: earth, fire, air and water, even plants, why not (as seen in part I chap 5, Gothel against Zhan Tiri). No kind of advanced bending like in ATLA here, it’s just about making those elements appear and kind of throwing them where the caster decides it, not morphing them somehow.

The second type of magic is one that requires a certain mastery of magic. It’s for advanced users in a way (which Gothel thinks she is… but is she really?).

These spells are much more powerful than common spells, though some can just be advanced common spells upgraded to a higher level. Those spells usually need a receptacle of magic, or a magical artifact, such as the Sundrop or Moonstone. Their powers are released by the caster by an incantation, a spell longer than common spells.

The third and last is the magic of forbidden spells and potions.

This one is tricky, because they include both common and advanced spells, which is why they are dangerous. In itself, forbidden spells are all the spells playing too close to Nature’s biological laws, such as the frail limits between life and death (e.g. resurrection, life creation from nothing or an inanimate object, etc.). Those spells are mostly considered unethical, immoral, hence their prohibition, that we consider acted long ago before even the beginning of this story.

The performance of the magic cast depends also of the practitioner’s state, whatever their mastery. That means a spell cast by a tired or old person may be less effective than a spell cast by someone rested or in their prime… Which may cause a problem to some ever-young looking person we know btw… ^^

Of course, it is to be considered that these sorts of magic aren’t the only one. It’s an ancient art, transmitted by word of mouth for centuries if not millennia, and only recently through books and scrolls. Some of them have been translated, some never.

With these different kinds of magic, it’s to be considered there is not really such things a “good magic” or “bad/dark magic”. It all depends from what the magic is extracted, who uses it, and for what. Though, we could say that, powers and effects-wise, forbidden spells could be such dark magic.

As I said in the intro, this annex is bound to evolve and be updated. Some things I might use about magic might not end up there too, here I wrote mostly the base. Of course, when I’ll update, I’ll inform you in the chapter’s notes.

... Rereading this, I feel I took some inspiration from how magic is in the world of "the Dragon Prince" ^^'

Well, that's a thing... I recommend this cartoon by the way, it's a good one! ^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any question about all this, please ask, though I haven't thought of each and every use possible, your questions will help me imagine aspects that could have a use in the story later ;-)


	2. A morally questionable proposition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the second part of "Retelling Corona's Tales" truly begins!  
> We start centuries after the end of "Beginnings", where we left the epilogue. Corona is ruled by king Frederic, Herz Der Sonne and Shampanier's great-great-great-great-grand-son...
> 
> Here we go!
> 
> As we have no canon explanation about Cassandra’s full parentage (which kinda was what inspired me to write this story in the first place), this chapter and the two next are here to fix that.  
> I had trouble finding a plot I was comfortable with plot-wise and to write… So for this chapter and the next, expect some behind-the-scenes in the end notes ^^'
> 
> Have a nice reading!

In Corona, Herz Der Sonne and Shampanier’s great-great-great-grand-daughter passed away young, after a heart attack. Her younger brother assured the regency few years, while her son Frederic was still too young to become king on his own. These years were for the prince the occasion to really learn all that was to know about his future royal role. And he was a great student. As such, his uncle deemed him ready to serve his kingdom two years before his majority he would otherwise have had to wait before his coronation.

Three years after sitting on the throne, Frederic was still a single king.

One afternoon, he went in town with his uncle to greet the family’s friend coming back in town, Xavier, or in this case, one of Xavier’s cousin’s nephew’s second son or at least it was something like that. Still, as members of the royal family, Frederic knew all that was to know about him.

That day, Xavier was at his workshop. He closed it when he saw the king and his uncle and adviser coming, and went invite them at his library. He had closed to public this room for years, after being robbed of few books decades ago. Or at least, his great-uncle who he strangely looked alike was robbed. Thankfully, the thief, just some guy trying to make easy money by selling precious books, had been apprehended in the same afternoon.

With the newly-crowned king and his uncle, they shared some tea and cookies, and talked for hours. Frederic wanted his advice to woo lady Arianna he had met at a ballet few weeks ago, while he, the lady, her sister and other nobles had been invited at the coronation of the neighbor kingdom’s new king, Trevor of Equis. Unfortunately for him, Xavier was wise on many things, but love and the matter of the heart weren’t on his knowledge range. At dusk, the king and his uncle left their friend and went back to the castle, escorted by the battalion of guards waiting for them outside.

Xavier closed behind them, alone once again in his home.

But when he turned around to get back in his library, he wasn’t alone anymore.

“Hello Xavier,” said Gothel, sat in his armchair.

The dim orange light from the fireplace haloed her like an eldritch flame caught around her like bees in a field full of flowers.

“Don’t stay there like a puppy waiting for the door,” she told him. “Come and sit. That’s not a way to greet friends.”

“What are you doing here? And how did you come in?” he asked, confused.

“Well, I’ve learned a few tricks. Took me a long time to find the spell, but it’s great to sneak into places I wouldn’t have been welcomed in otherwise.”

“If you know I wouldn’t have let you in, why even come?”

“Oh, you know, I couldn’t help myself. I need you.”

“That’s surprising. For years, you never wanted anything. Even when I proposed you to think about a solution for your aging and Sundrop problem. You could have just taken that cutting I offered you years ago. But no. You’re stubborn.”

“Oh, stop it, you’re going to make me blush,” she falsely giggled.

“That was far from the point. What are you here for, Gothel?”

“For my aging and Sundrop problem.”

Xavier sighed heavily. He should have seen that coming.

“So, you’re ready to accept my help?” he asked her.

“No, I’ve thought of another way. In fact, I need someone I could teach magic to, I need someone to care about the Sundrop, someone who could replace me when I’ll be gone, eventually. Someone who could go search and find the Moonstone.”

“If you’re thinking about me, that’s no use. I don’t care much about magic these days. The few I do with the Sundrop is enough for me.”

“I wasn’t thinking about you,” said Gothel.

That reassured him few seconds, before getting a hint on what she was really thinking about.

“And so? Can you explain yourself?”

“I need a pupil.”

“Explain clearly.”

“I need a child. Of my own. I need you.”

“I’m not your man,” he reacted in the second with disgust.

“Well you’re my friend. I’d rather go to you who I trust, than to run into any stranger. I trust you Xavier. Though I see you don’t seem to trust me as before.”

“That’s madness!” he barely shouted to her. “You can’t just run into my place and ask me to make you a child! That’s insane! And even if it weren’t about me, this idea of yours is insane! If you need a pupil, a child, there are plenty of orphans in need of a family. You would give yourself a way to achieve what you want, and you would give one of those kids a family.”

“I don’t want a kid from an orphanage. Who knows who their parents are? Where they’re from? I can’t take a stranger into my home.”

“You’re missing the point of an orphanage.”

“And you’re missing the point of what I need! This kid has to be mine. I have magic, I have already gained things mere mortals don’t have. If I have a child, it could have a portion of that magic, of that power. It would be more powerful than me.”

“It?” he noticed.

“They. If you insist,” she reluctantly corrected.

“As I said, I’m not your man. I don’t care why you really want a child, Gothel. You’ve done well by yourself for centuries. Why now? Why not before? What has changed?”

“I’m aging faster and faster… If I die, who will protect the Sundrop? Who will stand against Zhan Tiri when she’ll come back? Who will finally find the Moonstone and wield it?”

“Unless someone builds a new portal, Zhan Tiri can’t come back. That’s just impossible. As for the Moonstone, as far as we know, it may have disappeared, it may be fairy-tale. Or it may not. But most importantly, I know you, Gothel, more than you think I do. You only care about yourself. Your age, your nonexistent wrinkles, your black hair without a single streak of white. How could you even care about a kid, yours or anyone’s? That’s not you. I won’t help you if that would mean bring to the world a child who wouldn’t be loved. And first of all, are you even able to conceive? I know you use the Sundrop’s power, but that doesn’t mean your body could grow a child.”

“I’m not dumb, thank you. If you must know, I’ve had my periods throughout the last centuries. That shouldn’t be a problem.”

Xavier sighed again, and rested his weary head into his hands. Reasoning with his old friend was more difficult than before. He stood up from his chair and went to the winter garden, where new flowers were growing in the Sundrop powered earth.

“I won’t help you get that child, Gothel. I’m against it. But… If you stay on this idea, and if you need other help, just know I’m here. As long as it stays moral.”

“I’ll do my best about the last part but… you know me,” she replied with a suggestive smirk.

“That’s what I mean. Now, go. Find a spell, someone else you trust and who would follow you into hell, but I’m staying here. I won’t father any kid. And certainly not yours.”

He walked toward the door and opened it wide. If Gothel was to ask him again, all the passersby in the street would hear her. She was headstrong, but not a fool.

He just hoped she wouldn’t do any crazy choice, and choose wisely, and, at best, lose this idea that could doom her. But not just her. The man she would chose could turn against her learning who she really was, and the child, who could tell what could happen to the child? What could be the effects of the Sundrop on the child? What mother Gothel would be? If Xavier was sure of one thing is that this child idea was a bad one. For everyone. He just hoped she would come to think the same, sooner rather than later.

Gothel stood up, and went to the door. She put her hand on the handle, and before leaving, turned to Xavier.

“I’ll find a way. But thanks. When the time comes, I know who to ask. See you later.”

On those words, she left.

“Yes, old friend, see you later… very much later,” whispered Xavier, half to himself, before closing the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some behind-the-scenes:  
> Xavier quite obviously declined Gothel's offer. I found several reasons for that.  
> First, in the canon, Cass doesn’t look like him, and I don't find any kind of father-daughter relationship between them in canon. Xavier's is everyone's nice uncle, an Uncle Iroh in the world of Tangled imo, but I don't think any character see him as a father figure.  
> Second, Gothel’s idea is quite mad and well, very morally questionable, so his reaction was in my opinion the only one to have.  
> Third, I frankly don't think he ever saw Gothel as more than a (more-or-less reliable) friend, even if, from her POV, she might have believed once there could be more.
> 
> Now, what will Gothel do? That will be answered in the next chapter... 👀  
> I think I'll publish once or twice a week, as to allow me enough time to write the next chapters.


	3. An heir for the witch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for blood, wound, self harm, unethical forbidden spells.  
> This chapter is one of the few in the entirety of Retelling Corona's Tales that could be considered Mature, so reader caution advised.  
> If at any point you're not comfortable with where this is going, better skip this chapter and directly go to the next, what's inside this one won't be referred to a lot in later chapters.  
>   
> The majority of the story will be rated T, so I prefer to stick with it and inform you for each chapter if needed ;-)  
>   
> This chapter was the one that bothered me the most to write so far, because I had trouble finding a plot I wasn't disappointed by... So, behind-the-scenes in the end notes ^^

Later that night after seeing Xavier, back in her cottage, Gothel searched through her many books of magic. There had to be something, somewhere, that could get her an answer, a solution. She had meant it when she told Xavier she couldn’t run into a stranger. She had to think wisely. A spell, a potion, anything could give her what she wanted through magical arts, forbidden for some. Yet, the resulting child wouldn’t be hers. For her magic, that was a line she couldn’t let herself cross.

Getting that child would mean it would be hers, and have her powers she had acquired through the years. Even, if that could even be possible, part of the Sundrop’s power she had absorbed during all these many years. There was no essay, nor books to tell whether or not magic could pass from parent to child, but she intended to believe it could pass that way, and not only be learned as she did. And if there was something Gothel did, it was to always finish what she started. No one could get in her way. Even less now that she had the power to get obstacles out of her way.

After two days without eating nor sleeping, only reading through grimoires and books and scrolls, she found a spell. It was a diverted way to get what she wanted. This spell would allow her to look like someone else for few hours. There was a legend saying this was how a king of old had gave the woman he coveted a child, while her husband was out at war. The king, with the help of a wizard, had the exact appearance of the husband, and the woman couldn’t suspect a thing. From this union was born a kid who would receive a magical sword and become king. Time to repeat History.

While she remembered that old story, Gothel couldn’t hide her laughing smile. She was thinking about Xavier. How ironic would it be for her to look like another woman, cheat her husband and let her own child search for the magical Moonstone, when the man who loved legends so much was the one who put her out of his home?

There was still one part of the plan missing. And a big one. Who? Spending her life away from society, and villages, and all that could help her know people and befriend them, she didn’t have any idea of who to ask. The only one she had thought of had decline. But Gothel would never let a small defeat fail her entire plan. There had to be a way. And to hell with ethic and moral by now. This futility would only slow her down.

And so for days and weeks, she kept searching. She told herself she should have done those researches before even going to Xavier in Corona. Though she felt bad at the idea of harming her longtime friend, the appearance spell could have worked on him. But he had refused. And if she wanted to get him to help her when the time would one day come for her child to live, she had to play carefully, and don’t give him any reason to not help her. Frankly, this could very well be a question of life and death. He must stayed her ally, not become her enemy.

At last, many days later, she had read and read again all the books and scrolls and grimoires in her possession. There had to be a way. Frustrated, she threw one book across the room. It happened to be one of the first books she had borrowed indefinitely from Xavier’s library. The key for Demanitus’ library fell on the floor with a clinging sound. She looked at it, thoughtful. Maybe there could be a solution after all.

She left her house at dawn the next day. The first place she went to was the Flower. She had to prepare herself for the journey to come. She knew the way. If the maps she had were still correct, and if the roads were clear of all danger and obstacle, she could be at Demanitus’ old library within a week of walking with the minimum of rest and lunch she could get. Or even less with a horse. She walked away through a village. It had a feeling of déjà-vu, when she took the reins of a horse with no rider on its back, and it felt good.

She was out soon on a gallop toward an old city far away. So far away it was in the ancient land of Saporia. It had been in Corona for a time, but a war about a century and a half ago got the land into Equis territory. The only way to know in which kingdom she was currently in was to search for guards and see the coats of arms, but there was no time to learn geopolitics.

In four days, a lake crossing and a horse dead of exhaustion later, she made it to the old town the late engineer was from. To find his house was easy. It was the only one with an observatory on the roof. The entrance was guarded. It wasn’t that surprising. After all, there was things in there that could cost a fortune, in money as well as in knowledge. And the latter was the kind of fortune she was looking for.

Enter, when you were a witch who had more than a trick in her sleeve, was a kid’s game. As soon as she was inside, she searched for the library. It was upstairs. There, she understood why Demanitus had proposed her to go learn there. It was immense. The amount of books was way superior than the total amount of books she had ever seen in her life. Luckily, the old man was keeping them ordered, with few signs to know what each shelf was about. In an instant, she found the biology section.

There was a book about pregnancy. Just the thing she needed. Yet, she put it back in place. This one was about a step further the one that still caused her problem. Within the forbidden spells section, a rather small one compared to the others, as it only had less than a hundred books, she found and opened an old scroll. It wasn’t exactly a spell scroll, more like a story scroll. That surprised her. It shouldn’t be in that shelf then. Intrigued, she read it.

Neither the scroll nor its story were from any of the lands she knew. It was from way further away, and way back in time. It was the story of a woman, mistress of dark arts, whose beloved had died in battle before their marriage could be consummated. And so, so they could nonetheless have children of their own, the enchantress used her forbidden magic. All she needed for that spell was a portion of her beloved’s body. From his corpse resting before being set in his tomb, the enchantress cut his hand and the spell was completed. Nine months passed, and two twins were born. One had his father’s eyes, the other her father’s hair color. Both had their mother’s wit.

Gothel turned the scroll around in hope to find that spell, but it didn’t seem to be there. Tired of searching in vain without enough sleep for too much time, she fell on an armchair, and let the scroll fall on the floor and it fell in a ray of sunlight. There, letters appeared on the other side of the scroll. It was an invisible ink, and it just handed her the key to find herself a legacy worth aging for.

Disregarding her tiredness, she copied the spell in a hurry, not without getting a memory of that day during the blizzard when she had copied the Demanitus scroll containing the Sundrop incantation. Today, the sunlight had helped her once more. Seemed like the celestial body really wanted to help her. She wouldn’t let it down. Nor would the child she would carry.

She read the spell, translated by Demanitus himself. Sure it didn’t seem to have been of any importance to him, yet, countless were the translations he had done back in his time. Still, one element was missing. Again. Another person. Magic or not, a kid with only one parent, one giver of life, that was something nature itself couldn’t let happen. It wasn’t a question of culture, nor of love, nor of society, it was a question of how nature had forged the world for millennia. But perhaps, perhaps there could be a shortcut… A tricky one… Only one way to find out.

Gothel took the scroll, and searched for a place to commence the spell. Demanitus’ old office would suffice. She looked out of the window for a moment. No one seemed to have noticed her presence. Good. Now, to work.

On a table, she put the scroll containing the pregnancy spell. On another table, she put another scroll, containing another spell, one she would use firsthand. The appearance spell.

It said on the scroll there were two variation of this spell. One allowed the user to take the appearance, hence the entire body and not only a husk, of someone else. The other allowed the user to become themselves, as the other biological gender. A twin sibling of sort. Like many spells, the effects were only temporary and would bring tiredness to the user, so Gothel had to chose wisely. She chose the latter variation.

With the few ingredients she had with her as well as in the house, the effects would last about two hours. She had to make them count. The spell was a rather easy one, in fact. She only needed a sample of the person she wanted to become, in this case, herself, and recite an incantation to reveal the magic that would change her. She cut a lock of her graying hair, put it on the table, took the few other elements needed she found in the room and the rest of the house, and began.

_Sample of mine aim,_

_Show mine mirror self,_

_Change mine corporeal form,_

_Reverse mine birth self!_

As soon as the incantation ended, Gothel felt, and saw as well, her body change. First, they were the hands, more calloused, blunter. Then, the feeling went to her whole self. It wasn’t hurting her, yet, there was an indistinct tingle, like a fire within. It was soon too much to endure. She felt herself stumble to her knees, yet fighting to not slumber. There was nothing she could do to stop herself from falling unconscious.

When they woke up minutes after, the tingle was almost completely gone. They stood up, trying to get used to this new appearance, and search for a mirror. There was one just by the door. The transformation was a success. And there was no time to lose. Take a sample of this male self, keep it safe, and let the spell vanish to go back to her female safe. It shouldn’t that difficult.

They took a knife from their journey satchel, and readied themselves. Gothel had chosen to take blood. They couldn’t take the risk of losing a limb as the ancient sorceress did in the story on the scroll. Bloodletting was one of the first medical practice they had learn with the old magister when they were young of years. They knew how to do it. But they feared the pain. Pain wasn’t something the Sundrop’s power in them could hide.

The knife’s blade was sharp. The handle in one hand, they neared it to the flesh of their other arm. Incision. There. Blood started to flow. They pulled the knife out, and got a cup. They had to do it fast. Blood flowed, more and more. Was it enough? Would it dry while they were back to Gothel’s female self? They couldn’t know.

The cup soon was filled of the red liquid. Gothel grabbed a piece of fabric nearby, and pressed on the wound. The flow of blood reduced, and finally stopped. They felt weak. Too much blood let out maybe. At least, that would be enough for the next spell, they reassured themselves. At last, the wound seemed to calm itself. The pain was still piercing through their arm, but no blood was let out anymore. Gothel took out the piece of fabric to knot it around their arm, before collapsing once more on the ground.

They cursed themselves as pain blurred their head, thinking they should’ve waited a bit more, before getting the blood. They still hadn’t completely recovered from the transformation, and the exhaustion from the journey. Same as before, their mind wandered and consciousness left them.

When Gothel recovered from this tiring time, she was back as herself. The piece of fabric was still firmly around her arm, only a little loose but not that much. The wound wasn’t closed yet, but the blood had already stopped flowing. There was no need for a hemorrhage. By her side, the large cup still held the blood, their blood.

She hoisted herself up with the armchair, and looked at the next scroll. Her vision was still blurry. She was in no condition to continue right now. But waiting would only let the blood the time to dry, and that was something she couldn’t risk. Still, the cup was filled with the precious red liquid. There was way more than necessary. She allowed herself a pause, and went to sit in the armchair. She was too weak to do anything in her current condition. She would casts the spell upon her. After some sleep.

But her mind wasn’t read to sleep. She managed to get some rest, but in nothing it made her less tired. Only a bit, but far from enough.

The power of the Sundrop was fading. Even through her blurry vision, she could see and feel wrinkles reappearing on her hands and face. There was no possibility to cast the pregnancy spell here at Demanitus’ house. She had to get back to her cottage.

That was when she thought of something. Yes, going back to the cottage, and go to the Flower, sing the incantation and cast the spell there would ensure it to work the best.

Moving sent pain through her whole body, but she had to do it. She poured the cup’s bloody content in a skin empty of water, put the two scrolls in her satchel and went back to the library. The teleportation spell she had used to go to Xavier’s house was a rather simple one. It didn’t require too much energy or strength. The only requirement was to either see the destination or know its exact position. As soon as it was cast, she was back in front of her home’s door.

She ran, as best as she could with her body aging by the second, toward the Flower. As she ran, she sang the incantation. She was still faraway, and yet, she could feel its power draining toward her. Now, her legs could run faster, even not much, but still, she could run faster, and the Sundrop’s power was curing her more and more.

As she arrived on the ledge, she knelt by the Flower. Her hands were back without any wrinkle. Gothel put the spell scroll on the ground, read it, then took the skin containing the blood. Even forbidden, this spell was a rather simple one. That was where the whole danger laid. Dangerous yet easy spells that weren’t meant to be cast were even more difficult to be thought unsafe by common magic users. Which Gothel thought she wasn't, after all that she learned with Zhan Tiri and her disciples. But truly, she was.

In itself, this pregnancy spell required an ancient rune to be drawn around the woman casting it, rune drawn with one of the cardinal humours of the other half that would create life, or a piece of body as in the legend. This large rune would then catalyze the magic flowing around, and then, through the miracles that made magic what it was, the person receiving the spell would find herself with a life growing inside her, a new life forged from the lives of both life givers. And as all spells playing thoughtlessly with life, its creation or destruction, spells like this were of those considered forbidden, immoral and even cursed by many, first sorcerers, then common people.

Gothel didn’t care. She thought herself far better than those old wizards with long white beard and weird priest dress. She needed that child, her legacy. The Sundrop needed it. She needed it. She was too close to let a warning on the spell stop her. There was no turning back. The rune was drawn, red of blood on the green of grass. She read the spell, memorized it, and recited it.

_Miracle of all life,_

_Answer my very call!_

_This humour combine,_

_With this body of mine,_

_Create existence itself,_

_Raise merged cells of life!_

The blood around Gothel started to glow, eerie sapphire stars among the emerald blades of grass. Drops were pulled in the air, and flew, as such a reversed rain. Her first feeling was pain. Brutal, surging through her lower abdomen. Then, the red drops flying turned, like a red liquid carousel. Some splashed on the ground, on Gothel’s very clothes, but that was the least of her concerns. She watched as drops dropped on her face, her hands. They didn’t stay on her skin. They went through and between the permeable cells, and disappeared, and soon, it was as though no blood had ever covered her.

The pain went away, and all that remained was a feeling of success. That was it. The spell had done its work. All that was now to do was wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised earlier, here’s how I wrote this chapter as I did, because it was a real can of worms I kinda had to go through for the timeline's sake:
> 
> Biologically speaking, I needed a second parent for Cassandra. Or else the kid is a clone (pretty sure Raps would have quickly noticed if Cass was Gothel's exact copy... _*whisper*_ PTSD).  
> A second parent lacked from the canon. I searched among the different characters we, but more importantly Gothel, knew throughout the story and canon too. In my opinion, none fitted the role. I could have created a plot convenient OC and, bye bye (second best option in my outline). But then, what drive? Love? Doesn't fit Gothel. Unethical action? Same can of worms and the rating would've hated it ^^' (and I would've been even less comfortable writing such schemes, whatever they could have been)  
> So I looked in legends.  
> There was this Uther Pendragon-like spell, and well, I think I kinda created the other one (pretty sure it exists somewhere though)... So, I settled on this somewhat “twin brother” idea. It’s far from my favorite, I admit it, that makes Gothel kind of the Lannister of Corona, but well...  
> It's magic, it works, the DNA can be different enough to not create a clone so, I settled with it. Plus Gothel isn't canonically known for ethic, and here, she's the only one responsible for her action as no one else is thrown into her dark schemes soooo... I guess it somehow stays in-character?


	4. Delivering a legacy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: delivery, blood, surgery
> 
> If you don't feel comfortable with it, I suggest you go directly to the end of this chapter, to the paragraph starting with "As days, then weeks and months passed [...]"

Months passed. Thrice a week, Gothel went to the Sundrop Flower. She could feel the life growing inside of her. It felt strange, yet, she knew why she had did that. She had too. That child would be her legacy. That child would protect the Sundrop, and the child’s destiny would be to find the Moonstone, and prove to whatever otherworldly demon that weak humans had the power to wield these cosmic artifacts. That was how things were meant to be.

During all this time in her cottage, Gothel had studied the scroll she had copied from Demanitus’ work long ago during the storm. She had translated part of it, thanks to the old man’s translation key.

Once, she went back to Corona. She had found a way to contact Xavier, when the time would come. In one of the books she had scoured through when searching for a spell months before, there had been a little something that now had some use.

It took the appearance of a blank piece of scroll. Well, two actually. They were to be bound together by a spell, that allowed one person to write on one scroll, and what was written would appear on the bound scroll. It had been a common way of contact for mages of old, before they chose to rely on birds and other non-magical ways to carry messages. At least, this way was more of use than enchanted message bottles, another way of communication that required said special bottle. But there were only a handful of those left in the world, and Gothel was far from any.

When she was in Corona, Gothel didn’t find Xavier, though his workshop was open. He must have been elsewhere. So, she rolled one of these bound scrolls, and left it on the chest she knew he keep most of his tools. Without anymore waiting, she left the city. This time, she went by foot, not by horse.

After few weeks, she went more and more in the cities, whether the capital on its island or the villages around. She had noticed something her withdrawal from society had changed. No one could see her, and so, no one could tell her how young she looked, unknowingly to them thanks to the Sundrop.

And as she went back more often to the cities, she received comments on her beauty and youth she kept. And these comments, few at first, went more numerous, and Gothel realized how much it felt addictive. To hell with a life out of the towns. This was life. From this day forward, she went more and more in the cities. It felt good to have the attention of the people. But after a while, there was something she found disgraceful, something she couldn’t hide anymore, and she stopped going in town. Her belly was growing, as the child in her was growing.

She kept note of the compliments she got, of all the things she did in her mirrors. In her cottage, she had discovered a way dug long ago when the watermill had been built. It seemed it once served as a mine. Now, it would keep her secrets, her mirrors. She had a secret way down, through a tunnel. As much as she wanted to keep these pleasing memories with her, she knew that if anyone were to see one in her house, she was good to be burned alive. People these days didn’t actually like magic a lot. Through stories and legends, most had heard of the damages done by Zhan Tiri long ago, and the people kept a deep rancor toward magic of any sort.

  


After eight and a half months passed since her journey to Demanitus’ old home, she felt weak all of a sudden. She was coming back from the Flower, she shouldn’t be feeling like this. Unless… It was time. Her legacy was coming. It was ready. But she wasn’t. As soon as she was back at her cottage, she contacted Xavier through the magical scrolls. She just hoped he would see it soon enough.

It seemed he saw the message scribbled in a hurry, as he was by her door less than two hours later.

“I came as soon as I could, Gothel. How do you feel?”

“Tired… You got anything strong to get the pain out? Whiskys maybe?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You’re pregnant, may I remind you.”

“I… Know… Argh! To hell with the pain! Make it stop!”

“The contractions have been more frequent?”

“Yes…”

“Do you want me to get the father? He could help.”

“No need. He’s been taken care of…” said Gothel between two pain surges.

“You want to bring a child to the world and tell them their father is dead? Dammit Gothel! I told you this child idea was insane!”

“What good would any man do to me? And no, there was no man… Better you don’t know, you’d claim it wasn’t moral… Again…”

Xavier sighed heavily. Really, his friend was more and more difficult to deal with. Once the child was here, he would severe the ties, and leave Gothel alone. One last time. This was going too far.

Another surge of pain went through Gothel. Neither of them had painkillers. Gothel because her only medicine now was magic and she wasn’t in condition to get a spell or potion ready, Xavier because, as a good friend, didn’t want to bring any medicine that could hurt the child or their mother.

“What have you lost yourself into, Gothel?” asked Xavier, half to himself, half to her.

“If I die… I know my child will be well-raised…” she said, grabbing his sleeve.

“After all you’ve done, you’d still want me to care for your child?”

“Xavier,” she answered with a small laugh, “we had so much in common once… We were young, free, learning, laughing, living…”

“You turned your back on those you could have sworn to protect!” he shouted, before regaining his composure. “You wanted to become a healer when I found you long ago! Look at what you’ve become…”

“I heal myself days after days…”

“I know, and the Sundrop shouldn’t be used for such selfish reasons. We both should have died long ago. This isn’t right… Your child… isn’t right.”

“You’ve done the same with the Sundrop! Don’t lecture me!” she shouted before being stopped by pain once again.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?” she spat.

“Gothel, I only mean to help you, as I promised. If you don’t let me help you, I won’t be able to do anything. And for the Sundrop, let me remind you that I used it to gather knowledge that now help my kingdom! You used your gift to battle a mad demon and you nearly lost your life!”

Gothel didn’t answer that. Pain was coming slowly, more and more intensely. She closed her fists against the arms of the chair she was sat on. Drops were heard falling on the wooden floor.

“The baby is coming,” stated Xavier.

He stood up and went to grab a piece of fabric with cool water. He put it on Gothel’s forehead, burning of exhaustion.

“You look like an old man,” she told him with a grimacing face.

“And you look like an old fool!” he retorted. “Better pray this day isn’t your last. I have other matter to do than care for a child.”

“You could bring it to the royals…”

“What? Certainly not. Frederic isn’t married yet.”

“I thought he was,” said Gothel.

“That was only a rumor. Seems the king of Equis likes to spread fake news all over the place.”

“Ah… Dammit.”

“Even if he was married, I wouldn’t have brought your child to him.”

“I know… Argh!”

“Hang on, I’m here.”

“Have you… ever delivered a child before?”

“Never all by myself, but I assisted a doctor once.”

He knelt next to her, and took her wrist in his hands. Her heart for beating fast, to fast to be good. He felt her leave him, fainting. That couldn’t a good sign.

As the stress of the delivery went through her, she lost her anchor to consciousness. Her magic didn’t kept her with him. Xavier had lost her.

“Dammit! No!” he shouted in the house.

But there was no time for grief. He knew the Sundrop’s power could revive her. But first, the life in her was to be saved. Xavier took one of his knifes, cleaned it with a piece of fabric, protected with the nectar he had collected from his flowers growing in the Sundrop’s earth. He had let infused for days the fabric in this nectar, prepared for anything. He had only used it once, when healing a stabbing wound he had gotten years ago after an ambush in the woods. Then, it had worked, but he had been alive all along. He hoped it would work as well on his lost friend.

He ripped her dress apart, and uncovered her belly. The baby inside was moving, but no force helped them get out. Xavier knew he had to work fast. He put his blade on the flesh, and pushed carefully through the skin and muscles. The baby was there, and as soon as he opened the womb, cries rang out in the house. He took the little one in his arms, then in a cover nearby, and cut the cord linking her to her mother. The protection on the blade worked, as the cord healed itself with the few drops of Sundrop it received. Xavier started to sing gently the incantation, both to calm himself in this situation during which staying calm wasn’t an option, but also to help the magical power heal her friend. There was no way he would bring the child in town. Gothel had to come back.

While he sang, he watched the flesh closed itself, and he held the child in his arms, sitting cross-legged on the floor near Gothel’s armchair. The baby was sleeping. She was a girl. She had her mother’s face. Xavier watched Gothel. She wasn’t awake yet. Something might have gone wrong.

He took her wrist, and searched for her pulse. It was faint, but it was back. He hesitated a moment between leaving her come back to herself here at her cottage, while he took the child to the Flower, or taking her and the child to it, and ensure both would be safe. Before he could choose, he heard Gothel cough.

“What… happened? Is… is it over?”

“Yes…” told her Xavier, standing up with the baby girl in his arms. “You passed out. I had to do a Cesarean. Your baby is a little girl.”

“A Cesarean? Oh… how ugly it must be! You really had to do this, don’t you?”

“Don’t thank me, right. I had to. Or else, you and the child could have died. And don’t you dare tell me the Sundrop can’t heal your scar.”

“I… Thank you, Xavier.”

“At last. Here, take her.”

He gave her the baby in his arms, and then went to clean his knife in the river. When he came back inside, Gothel was feeding her child. Xavier couldn’t help himself but smile a bit. Maybe there was still an ounce of humanity left in her after all.

But he had no time to linger here. He took his stuff, and readied himself to leave.

“I see you don’t need me anymore,” he said, about to open the door. “Goodbye. Don’t search for me to babysit. I won’t answer.”

“Thanks, old friend. And farewell.”

On those words, he left the house, and went back to Corona.

  


As days, then weeks and months passed, the little girl grew up. Gothel had named her Cassandra. She had never told her old friend the name. In fact, she had never seen Xavier since the day he had helped her deliver. That was good thing, thinking back. He would probably have changed his mind about raising her and tried to get the child out of her destined way.

When the child was old enough, Gothel taught her few things. Speaking, writing, reading, and cooking mostly. Cassandra had to know all this. Sure, she was bound to become her mother’s legacy and had to learn magic, and all about the Sundrop and Moonstone, but right now, Gothel thought more of her as a pair of arms to do the chores. Cassandra could barely go out of the house, or only when Gothel was near the river.

But the water was the frontier the child couldn’t cross. The wooden bridge crossing it was forbidden. When she tried to walk in the water one day, Gothel grabbed her by the arms and threw her on the grass, shouting the water was dangerous, and never to be walked in. And Cassandra never tried again to go in the water of the river.

Days after days, Gothel still went to the Sundrop’s Flower on the ledge, not that far away from her cottage, but still the end of the world for Cassandra. The kid noticed her mother’s change of faces when she was out for few hours. She went away with gray or white hair, with skin of old age, and went back irradiating with youth.

Cassandra was a rather precocious child. Though Gothel didn’t know much on parenting, she explained it with the magic flowing inside her, not yet precising what magic it was. All magic had an origin few could understand. And by few, certainly not mere mortals. Zhan Tiri or her disciples could have an explanation. But they weren’t there anymore. For the best. Gothel would be able to teach her child all that was to know about the cosmic artifacts that granted her her extended life. For one day, this gift would pass on to Cassandra. This was how things were meant to be. When Cassandra would have the Moonstone, Gothel would get the Sundrop, and finally, as mother and daughter, they would have gained their revenge over the ancient demon and her minions.

And so, as inquisitive as she was, Cassandra asked few times her mother why she looked different when she came back home than when she left. Many times Gothel refused to tell, thinking it was too early. One day, she went through a market in town, and brought to her child a little music box. That, hopefully, would help her keep her questions to herself. Gothel had other fishes to fry.

She went back few times to Demanitus’ house, and gathered many scrolls he could had written in his early researches on the Sundrop and Moonstone. She kept them in her cave with the mirrors, and tried to unlock their mysteries. But what kept mysteries for the late engineer kept mysteries to her too. She had the translation key for the incantations, but part of the researches were missing. Demanitus had cloaked his work so no one could find it. Clever. And terribly frustrating too.

Soon, soon Gothel could teach her child about the truth about Sundrop and Moonstone. And then, then she would receive the Sundrop’s power from the Flower on the ledge. Unless…

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome Cass!  
> Next chapter... what could go wrong for Gothel's perfect plan?
> 
> I think I'll be able to keep up the Monday-Friday release, so right now, I'm keeping it. If I think I don't have enough time to think and write the next chapters, I'll slow down.


	5. Not everything goes as planned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gothel made plans for the future... But does Fate agree with her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter before the annex on magic in chapter 1, so expect some repetitions about how magic works in this world.

About three years after Gothel’s child, Cassandra, was born, the kingdom of Corona celebrated a new arrival. Lady Arianna had accepted king Frederic’s proposal, and they were getting married. Their weeding day was one of those days when everyone had a smile on their faces, when happiness flowed all over the streets, so much one could daresay a mysterious spell had enchanted them to be that cheerful.

The day after the main celebration and the coronation of queen Arianna, the newlyweds went on their honeymoon. The queen, adventure enthusiast like you’ve never seen before, encouraged her husband to go to the mountains. She had always wanted to go there, and she knew that, now sitting on a throne, the opportunity of such a journey would be far away from her. So, she wanted to share her desire for freedom with Frederic.

The mountains were a few days trip away from the capital. They had with them a small escort of guards, and two guides from these lands. Frederic’s uncle, also his royal adviser, had insisted on that. Thankfully, they went on their journey in summer, and the mountains sides were far from being snowy. At least, the weather wasn’t to be feared.

But there was another danger they hadn’t thought of, because it wasn’t a visible one. In fact, it was nearly unknown to all. Even to many magic users. It was something mages called residual magic.

In itself, when a sorcerer used a huge amount of magic in one place, it usually stayed there far a while. Days, but sometimes years or centuries. The more powerful the wizard, the longer and more powerful the residual magic stayed. And in these mountains, magic was everywhere. Several summits from where the royal couple spent their honeymoon, there was the Demanitus device, and further away, his tomb. With the device, and in all the mountains around had stayed for long Zhan Tiri’s magic, when she had fought against the engineer during the blizzard. But they ignored it. They didn’t even know of that magic still existing.

After a week of travel, they reached the lodge they would stay in another week before going back to Corona. The whole week was planned, courtesy of the royal protocol that had to ensure the couple’s safety all along. Which happened to be more oppressive outside the castle than it was in Corona’s walls.

But magic was tricky, unpredictable. And most of all, no guard with only a sword or halberd could do anything against it. Days after days parts of this magic infiltrated the lodge, and those within. And none could see it. It was a ghost. A magical ghost, waiting in the shadows, laying there for the perfect moment.

The trip went well, all thing considered. They went trekking and hiking on the mountains side, discovering a part of the kingdom both Frederic and Arianna knew only through books and reports.

At the end of the week, time had passed too quickly. But they couldn’t stay any longer. They had a kingdom to lead now. When the time comes, they could still come back in the mountains, where they had their honeymoon.

When they were back in Corona, Frederic and Arianna were welcomed in the city, and soon, they were on their thrones to command the kingdom. But, soon, in the matter of few months, it became more and more obvious the royal couple didn’t came back alone from their honeymoon. The kingdom was awaiting an heir.

All went well for a long time, until one day, not long before the baby’s birth, Arianna fell very ill. None understood why. Yet the answer was a simple one. Residual magic. Zhan Tiri’s magic was inside all those who were part of the journey, including the queen. But she wasn’t alone anymore, and the magic was waking up as her own child was growing.

Frederic was desperate to save his beloved. He called a counsel of his most trusted advisers, while the royal physicians were tending to Arianna’s illness. In their non-magical opinion, nothing could be done. Only wait and hope. But Frederic refused to believe it. He knew the legends of Corona. And every legend is born of truth. So, he chose to send many men on a search for the mythical Sundrop.

Later the first night after he sent the search party, a man from Old Corona came and demanded an audience with the king. Frederic accepted this request, mainly because he didn’t want to madden himself into his sorrows. The man, Quirin, was the leader of Old Corona. He had immigrated years ago, from a faraway land. The Dark Kingdom. He told the king the destruction that would be unleashed by removing the Sundrop. The Moonstone would only grow more powerful, and annihilate everything on its path. That was how things were meant to be. To help himself decide, Frederic sent a guard get Xavier. He would know what to do.

When Xavier had arrived, Quirin repeated his words, marking the danger that would only come from using the Sundrop’s Flower. But then, Xavier asked him a question, for he knew some of the properties of the Sundrop’s powers, thanks to his own flowers in his winter garden.

What would be the most dangerous overall? Killing the Sundrop’s Flower to pass its power onto a person that would use it for good, to bring life? Or let the Sundrop out be drained for selfish reasons?

Though Xavier didn’t explain this last question, his tone made it clear this use was already done by someone else.

Knowing that, Quirin reluctantly accepted the search for the Flower, accepting the least worst idea, and praying that nothing too devastating would come to Corona. He had already seen firsthand the Moonstone’s powers unleashed, and it wasn’t something he wished to see in his new home.

That night, Xavier gave the location of the Flower to king Frederic, and the search party found it soon.

But what they didn’t know is that someone was watching.

As always, Gothel was near the Flower, and was singing to it, and as always, she felt her youth come back to her. But this night, shouts came from the forest, and the clinging of armors resonated in the silence of the woods. She fled fast from the ledge. But in her escape, the dome hiding the Flower fell, and the Flower was well seen by those looking for it.

Gothel was behind a rock and a bush when she saw the soldiers dig around the Flower and take it into a bag, then, bring it to the castle as fast as possible.

Gothel’s world was crumbling all of a sudden. No, the Sundrop. It couldn’t be going. She had failed to protect it. She couldn’t protect the Sundrop anymore, it had been stolen from her. And the Sundrop couldn’t protect her youth anymore as well. No, there must be a reason, there must be an explanation. She would find it, and she would bring the Sundrop back to her. She had to. Or else… death, death would come for her, who had laugh at its scythe for so long. No, she had to do something. This wasn’t how her story ends. The Sundrop would soon be hers to kept, to care, to protect. And the Sundrop in return would protect her, cure her, as long as magically possible.

The next day, she learned from the people in town was had happen the night before. The news had gone fast. The queen was ill, and a miracle came in the form of a Flower. The common people thought of it as a simple flower, but Gothel understood immediately want it really was. As fast as humanly possible, she went to Corona.

The city was overjoyed. Why wouldn’t they, really? Their queen they loved so much had escape certain doom. But this doom had been countered by the magic of the Sundrop, Gothel was sure of it. She went to the market, from where she could see the royal balcony. The royal couple was there, their heiress in her loving mother’s arms.

And then, when they came into the light of the sun, Gothel noticed something. The child had bright sunny hair. She could recognize this color anywhere. It was the color of the Flower’s petals. The Sundrop was the princess. That realization angered Gothel.

The Flower couldn’t be saved. But the Sundrop could. All she would have to do was get that hair, and cherish it, as she had cherished the Flower before.

From their balcony, Frederic and Arianna, with the help of the little one’s hand, released into the sky a lantern to celebrate her birth. It would be the first of many.

“What are you here for?” heard Gothel from behind her.

“Xavier. What a pleasant surprise.”

“You have nothing to do here,” he sharply told her.

“I came to see the princess.”

“Now that you’ve seen her, you can go. Don’t try anything foolish, Gothel.”

“I wouldn’t. I only want the Sundrop.”

“You only want your youth,” he corrected. “Sundrop or other enchantment, no matter to you, as long as you look the same.”

“How naive of you, Xavier,” she humphed. “No enchantment has the power the Sundrop has.”

“Well then. Seems to me that you’ve lost it.”

“I wonder why.”

“I’m sure you don’t. Listen, I’ll do whatever I can to protect this child. Don’t you dare come near her. Forget the Sundrop.”

“You speak as if you don’t know me,” she said, disdainful. “I’ll leave. For now. But I’ll be back. I promise you. I’ll be back.”

“Take your time. But, just tell me. How is _your_ child?”

Gothel didn’t answer to that. She was the first of them to turn around and leave the plaza. Xavier watched her walk away. He had a bad feeling. He should inform the king and queen. But after all they’ve been through this last day, would they listen?

Right after the royal couple was back inside the castle, Xavier went ask for an audience. Which was declined. Other matters were keeping them busy. And though he understood that, Xavier couldn’t help but think this refusal was a mistake. For both their safety and their child’s safety.

Though Xavier couldn’t know when nor how Gothel would strike, he knew she would come, one day, or maybe more probably one night. So he went to the nearest guard station, that happened to be the one in the castle’s courtyard. There, he searched for one of the soldiers. He found him soon enough. The soldier was one Xavier had help in his youth, while his parents weren’t home a lot. Actually, his mother had died young, and his father wasn’t exactly the nurturing type. The man had grown with only guards and stable duty, and now, he was a soldier among others. And most of all, Xavier knew he could trust him.

“Hey,” the blacksmith called. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Xavier, I’m on duty. Can it wait?”

“I fear not. Can you talk to the captain and see if it’s possible to double security for the king and queen’s room these days? I fear something could happen. And I don’t want to feel guilty if it does.”

“I’ll… see what I can do. Do you really have to be always that cryptic?”

“I’d like to tell you the whole truth, but doing so, I’d betray an old friend.”

“I see. I’ll go talk to the captain.”

“Thanks.”

A horn called away. The soldier sighed.

“Duty calls,” he said to Xavier.

“Of course. Talk to the captain. Please. The kingdom’s fate may be at stake.”

The soldier watched him suspiciously, but said nothing. He would talk to the captain. And only the captain would decide what to do. Now, there was nothing more Xavier could do. So, he went back to his workshop.

Gothel was far away in the forest. With the Sundrop gone, she could already feel her precious youth go away as well. She had to find a solution and fast. She was aging by the minute. Hell, she already must have the face of a forty years old lady. As soon as she was at her home, she went prepare herself to leave the house once more. But this time, she would come back with the Sundrop. A sample of the baby’s hair should suffice. After all, this was how Xavier kept his flowers alive, and himself too, with the earth where the Sundrop had spread its power.

As she was behind her folding screen, securing her look with some makeup, Cassandra went to her, and asked her loving mother to wind the music box.

“Not now, darling,” said Gothel, standing up. “Mommy’s in a hurry.”

She went to the mirror against the fireplace. Oh, how the years suddenly came to her. She had to find the Sundrop that night. Or she would maybe have no other night to try again. Her plan decided, she went to the door.

“Mommy,” said Cassandra, pleadingly.

“Oh, must I do everything myself?”

Reluctantly, Gothel winded the music box, and a pleasing tune filled the silent house. She didn’t take the time to enjoy it with her daughter. She went away, to Corona, to the castle, to the Sundrop.

Getting to the town wasn’t the difficult part. On the road, she took a handful of flowers by the path. They would come in handy later. She had taken a long rope with a hook at one end, and stayed in the shadows, waiting the perfect moment to thrown the rope to the royal couple’s balcony and get that Sundrop. She waited a long time. There were patrols in the streets.

She saw a light coming from a high window. It was Xavier’s house. She went silently to his workshop, only closed by a wooden sign and a metal chain. A door opened, and Xavier came out of his home.

“I told you to stay away,” he said. “Forget the Sundrop. There’s nothing you can do. The castle is protected. No one can enter. No one.”

“Seems I only listen to what pleases me,” Gothel retorted.

“Whatever you plan on doing, this is a mistake. For once listen to me. Please, Gothel. I know the woman I saved from the avalanche is still there somewhere. I know the woman who wanted to become a healer is still in front of me. Don’t make me lie.”

“Oh, but I am here in front of you, Xavier. And you want me to be a healer? Very well.”

She put her hand in her satchel and took the flowers from the forest. They were little blue and white flowers, forget-me-nots.

“Whatever you plan on doing, forget it,” repeated once more Xavier.

“You know, old friend, magic is in everything around us… And some things have names we don’t understand, until the day their names is all we have to win something. Xavier… I will ask you to forget me. All you know about me, forget it. I never existed. You never knew me. Never. Forget me.”

Saying those words, she put the flowers in his hands, and closed them. His eyes were following her every movements, trying to understand. It would only take a moment.

“Forget me. Now,” she said.

She let go of his hands, that held the forget-me-nots.

“I… Who are you, miss? The forge is closed. Go home.”

“I was on my way out. Farewell, Xavier.”

Gothel turned around, and left the workshop. Behind her, Xavier only noticed the flowers in his hands. He opened his loose fist, and the flowers fell on the floor.

“Err… How do you know my name?” he asked in the darkness.

But she didn’t answer. She was gone.

The castle was high, and coming in, the king and queen’s bedroom was on the left, above the main entrance. The night was warm, they hadn’t closed their window. Why should they? They were at the second floor after all. And the bedroom was guarded from inside the castle. All Gothel had to do was walk in the shadows of the courtyard, throw her hooked rope, and climb. It was almost too easy. The night was dark, the sky so clouded no stars could help see. The only lights were those on the streets and the faint moon behind the clouds. And none of the lights from the town were directed toward the king and queen’s room, for their tranquility at night. No one who wasn’t looking could see Gothel climb and get on the balcony.

The window’s hinges creaked a little when she opened it, but no one inside reacted. They were sleeping soundly, yet not safely. Gothel came to the baby’s cradle, scissors in hand, and started to sing the incantation. The baby’s golden hair started to gleam with the soothing sound of the song, and Gothel saw her wrinkled hands lose their pitiful old appearance. She gently took a lock of her hair between her fingers, all the while singing gently, and cut.

And then, nothing happened as it should have. The cut hair turned brown, and all magic left it. Gothel gasped at the sight. It couldn’t be. No, the Sundrop should have infused its power in the hair, and should’ve stayed there, like the earth from the ledge. But no, this Sundrop was already a secondary host of the cosmic power. It wasn’t the Flower on the ledge anymore. It wasn’t a flower with roots running through the earth, whatever earth it was in. It wasn’t a cutting of a plant able to grow on its own. It was a child, without root, without earth. It was a whole body, not a cutting. There was no time to search for another solution.

Gothel grabbed the child in her arms, and ran through the window. She barely caught the rope, and, still mumbling the incantation, she could hear the king and queen waking up, shouting to arrest her, and guards coming on her heels. She was near the castle’s stables. There was only a stable-boy working there, in the dark, tending to the horses in their stables. Gothel did nothing. The baby in her arms cried, and the stable-boy went to see what the strange noise was about. All it took was a hit on his head and he fell on the ground. Then, Gothel grabbed a horse’s mane and climbed on its back. She sent the mount on a gallop through the town, but already guards were mounting on the others horses and chased her.

She thought she could lose them in town. She was wrong. She barely escaped the cart put in the middle of the way to stop her, if it weren’t for the palace horse trained to jump above obstacles. The run on the thirteen arched bridge wasn’t an easy one either. The soldiers shot arrows and bolts to her, before one of their officers stopped them, shouting they could hurt the princess. If there was something Gothel hadn’t foreseen while taking the child, is that she was a perfect human shield.

She sent the horse into a gallop through the forest, trying to evade the guards by not running on the main paths. But it was slowing the horse down. Finally, she arrived on another main road, and stayed on it. Her cottage wasn’t far from here. But she couldn’t risk the guards to take her own child, her legacy. No, she didn’t fight so hard to bring the Sundrop with her only to lose any chance of getting the Moonstone. There had to be another way in.

So, Gothel chose to leave the path leading to her home. Instead, she rode further away in the deep forest, losing the guards on her tail, until she came near the old Saporian military tower. She would stay there for a while, one day or two, just the time the guards leave this part of the forest and go search elsewhere. Then, she could come back home to Cassandra. But what of the baby? She wasn’t supposed to bring a baby home, only the Sundrop. This couldn’t go well. How was she even supposed to take care of the baby? The Sundrop. The Sundrop would do it. Its power would keep Gothel alive, as well as its embodiment. That was the only answer she gave herself. It had to be that. Or else she could lose the Sundrop forever, and live a miserable life, old, white-haired, disgusting. The Sundrop would care for her. And in return, she would care for it. Win-win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome Raps!


	6. Shadowed childhoods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interlude, showing the childhood of Cassandra and Rapunzel in their respective homes.

The first years with the baby weren’t easy for Gothel. She had to leave Cassandra in the cottage more and more often. Hopefully, her dedicated child knew how to tend to the house, at least enough for Gothel to not fear too much for their home’s safety. Which, she knew, though she never admitted it, what kept people away from her home was the fact they started to understand she was a witch. A child alone couldn’t stop them. Fear of magic could.

And yet, whenever Gothel left Cassandra alone in the cottage, she was afraid. The kid was only a kid after all. She could walk, she could take objects in her hands, make them work, or hurt herself, break everything, or kill herself, kill her legacy. At winter a twig in the fireplace could very well burn the whole house down while she was at the Tower. And no one in town would move, too happy to see the witch go away.

So, Gothel understood soon she couldn’t leave her child totally alone. She brought some of her enchanted mirrors from her cave, and in each, she had saved instructions. Whenever Cassandra was to walk too close, the mirrors would show her her mother. At first, there were a lot of mirrors, and as time went by, Gothel took few away. Yet, what was done was done. Cassandra was dreading those mirrors speaking and showing everything, was she just to walk past them. Most time Mother wasn’t home, she stayed in the bedroom, with books and things to do. And those couldn’t make Gothel fear for the house.

One day, when Cassandra was about seven, Gothel told her about the Sundrop and Moonstone. She explained them in the form of a legend, a story to make kids sleep.

A couple of months later, she told her the truth, that the Sundrop and Moonstone were real. Though Gothel’s prime goal for her child had evolved. She wouldn’t be tasked to protect the Sundrop, what had convinced Gothel to get a child for herself, for her legacy. No, now, with the Sundrop secluded where she knew in the old Saporian tower, Cassandra’s goal, her destiny would be to find and harness the Moonstone, and then, with the Sundrop’s power, Gothel would be unforgivable against those who coveted the cosmic artifacts’ powers.

From this moment forward, Gothel taught her child some magic. Only book magic, some easy spells to cast a fire, to raise earth, to make rain fall, or to send a burst of wind. Those were easy ones, not the spells of life and death the Sundrop and Moonstone were about. And even less the forbidden spells of the like of those that helped Gothel create her child. She made her read scrolls and books about all magical things she could find. There were the books and scrolls stolen from Xavier’s library, but also those taken from Demanitus’ library.

Still, even with this freedom of learning, Gothel never allowed Cassandra to leave the house. The cottage was her only home, her prison of sort. When she was home, Gothel barely accepted her to go to their vegetable garden by the house’s exterior walls.

Even with those restrictions, Cassandra didn’t consider herself sad or unlucky. Whenever her mother wasn’t home, which was quite frequent, she easily went to walk in the nearby woods, climb the cliff against the house. It was her way to escape the mirrors, and feel the wind and sun that walls and windows kept outside. She sculpted twigs into little wands she would play with, imagining herself as a frightening mage of old. She would always hide them under her bed when Gothel would come back home. She had an impressive collection of those, and from time to time, when they were too many, she threw one or two in the fireplace. She could sculpt others, it wasn’t that important to her. Moreover, those wands held no magic, they were only toys. They were her only toys. And Gothel often repeated how she felt about toys. Useless.

But there was something Cassandra noticed days after days, and that bothered her, because she didn’t understand that. Her mother’s face looked different when she left the house and when she came back. It was always the same. She left with gray-white hair, wrinkled skin, and when she came back, one could even take her for her daughter’s big sister.

One day, she was about twelve, Cassandra decided to confront her mother, to have answers. She knew her mother used magic, so she had searched in the grimoires, but she never found anything. Yet, there had to be an explanation.

“Mother,” started Cassandra, as they were eating dinner, “why do you look younger when you come back home?”

“This isn’t a question you ask to your mother, child. Now, eat, dinner’s getting cold.”

“But I want to understand. If it’s a spell, some magic, why don’t you teach it to me?”

“Now’s not the time, Cassandra. I said, eat your dinner. Never speak of this again.”

“Is it the Sundrop?”

“What?”

“You told me once the legend of the Sundrop and Moonstone, Mother, and told me my destiny would be to find the Moonstone. So… I assumed you never told me about the Sundrop because you know things you don’t want me to know…”

“Exactly, Cassandra. You are a clever child. But you are damned too curious. This will lose you, dear. You will never, ever speak of this again. Or I’ll have to lock the door when I’ll leave this house. And you know I hate to lock you up in here. But I’ll do it, for your own good. Am I clear?”

“I… Right, Mother.”

“If you want to know about the Sundrop, learn to wait, Cassandra. Wait and wait, and only then, I’ll maybe tell something to you.”

“I understand, Mother.”

“Oh dear, you’re such a perfect child. I love you very much, dear.”

“I love you more, Mother.”

“I love you most.”

That night, Cassandra cleaned the dishes, as always, while Gothel was at the basement. Well, not the official basement, where Cassandra could go, the basement that mostly kept food. But behind shelves, there was an opening kept hidden to even her own daughter, an opening that led to the caves where she had put her precious mirrors, and the scrolls from Demanitus’ home. She searched any clue possible, and yet, no trace of Cass coming down there. For now, her secret was safe. It was not the time for her child to know. Not yet.

About a week later, the sky was illuminated, for the eighth consecutive year. Gothel wasn’t home, so Cassandra climbed up on the hill to watch the lights in the night sky. They were beautiful. They came from the city, far away. She could barely see the far and high castle, behind the hills and trees, but she knew the town was there, and that it was a big town. But she didn’t know why there were these lights. This year, because her mother wasn’t home, she borrowed her spyglass and looked to the horizon. The lights were lanterns, beautifully decorated, made of yellow paper, with a small flame burning inside. They were a multitude of little suns radiating in the sky, flying to who knows where. And to Cassandra, it was beautiful to know that everyone was looking at them, even the people she didn’t know, even the villagers from the neighbor little town that never came near the cottage, even lost travelers in the forest. Everyone could see the lanterns.

But most of all, there was one person whom she ignored the very existence, someone who felt connected to the lanterns somehow. That was why Gothel was with her that night, and not with her daughter. She was at the old Saporian tower. Shampanier herself wouldn’t be able to recognize her old watchtower. It was far from its prime military use. No, now it was full of flowers and paints, with ivy running up the walls. And it was the home of a very important Flower too.

This was where the now lost princess was kept hidden from the world. Gothel came every day. She or the child sang the Sundrop incantation, and the power filled them as youth came back to Gothel. The princess, still an eight years old child, couldn’t feel much difference, only feel more bold and daring when it came to climb in the tower’s framework. She was an athlete, helping herself with her hair Gothel always refused to cut, that grew longer by the years.

In fact, Gothel had explained once, with a partial truth, that the magic contained in her hair would disappear, was the hair to be cut. In itself, it was the truth, yet it wasn’t the entire truth, as she never ever talked about the Sundrop, and even less the Moonstone. For all the princess knew, she was born this way. And she didn’t even know she was a princess. She only knew her name was Rapunzel, which Gothel didn’t change. Why would she, really? It wasn’t as if the child would even come to know about the world outside the tower. She didn’t know there was a king and queen, far away, who were her real parents, and who were waiting in sorrows in their castle for the day when she would, hopefully, come back to them.

So, she lived there, up in the tower, and so far, she had only known Gothel. There wasn’t much people coming to the tower, or hiking in the high cliffs. And if there were, they didn’t care about the lost tower. The child knew not, but Gothel had used a spell around the tower, to hide it from those who searched the lost princess. Others could see it, as long as they didn’t care what could be inside.

Rapunzel was alone most of the time, when Gothel wasn’t on her way or at her own cottage, which Rapunzel obviously knew nothing about. Gothel, Mother, to her, kept disappearing from time to time, always coming back with treats, and leaving again, coming back. It never ended.

Still, she kept secrets to her mother too. One rainy day, a little chameleon had found a way up the tower, hurt and exhausted. Rapunzel had healed him with the magic she held. Though it felt obvious to Gothel, Rapunzel had never thought of her magic as something that had to be used by only one person. And from this day on, the little chameleon, which she called Pascal, became her close friend, her only link to the outside world. As she had never set foot outside of the tower, the name came from on the books Gothel had gave her. She only had three, one on botany, one on cooking and a last one about geology. The latter had been written by a professor named Pascal whose name was on the cover.

And together, they spent their time. Cooking, candle making, playing music, painting… All Gothel could find to keep Rapunzel busy, she brought to the tower. The child must never feel bored to the point of leaving. It was simply inconceivable. The Sundrop had to be concealed in the tower, and never, ever leave it. So, days after days, Gothel tricked Rapunzel into feeling guilty at each thought of leaving. How horrible Gothel’s life would be without her. How doomed Rapunzel herself would be, against all the dangers outside.

And one day, when the time would come, when both children would be old enough to go on a long, oh so long quest, Gothel would get both her daughters to find the Moonstone. One already had the Sundrop, the other would possess the opposite cosmic artifact. But Gothel knew she couldn’t tell them the whole plan. Both were eager to please her. She liked it, though she never really understood that need they had. This desire to be appreciated could very well get them to leave and search the Moonstone, thinking that surprise would enjoy their mother. And Gothel couldn’t risk that. If Rapunzel was to leave, at this point Gothel could die of old age in the matter of a week, if not less. And if Cassandra was to leave, then there was no hope in getting the Moonstone ever.

Gothel knew the theoretical way to the Moonstone. From the former emplacement of the Sundrop’s Flower on the ledge, go to the Great Tree, and continue until one find the Moonstone. That was the theory. But there were mountains and sea against them, and kingdoms, villages, people. Some didn’t care about travelers, others only thought of travelers as easy loots, may it be for the goods they carry or for the people themselves.

For all those many reasons, Gothel kept both her children in the shadows, waiting. One day, the time would come, one day, but far from today. Many years would be needed, for the two girls to know enough what they would have to do. For now, they had to wait. Wait and see, before they could go in the world, and seek the Moonstone.

Wait and learn, wait again and again, until the day comes. And that day, that day when both Sundrop and Moonstone would be in Gothel’s possession, then she would live as long as universally possible, then she would find a way to bring Zhan Tiri back only to send her further away, taking a long awaited revenge, finally showing her who held all powers.

She wasn’t the healer-in-waiting under the avalanche anymore. She was more. And she would continue to become more than that, and prove to those who told her she wasn’t ready that she finally was. And she would have all the time she would need to do that. And she would have the Sundrop and Moonstone too.


	7. A blink of freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts two years after the last one, Cassandra is 14.  
> This chapter and the next will span a couple of years each.
> 
> Warning for child mistreatments and mention of domestic violence.

Times passed as always the next two years. Gothel was barely home for both her children, and, both mostly alone found some things to do, to discover in the area surrounding the cottage, or inside the tower’s walls. Though Cassandra at the cottage could go outside a bit more, and walk on grass or in the little river’s stream. There were many days when she would just sit in the ground, facing the sun, and read one of the many books about magic her mother was ever so eager to make her read again and again.

But Cassandra longed for something else. She longed to walk deeper in the forest, to hide, stealthy, only meters from a deer or a stag, or even wolves or foxes, stare at the bright yellow owl’s eyes in the dark. She knew all the animals that lived in the woods. At night, she could see them go out, under the dim light of the stars, to graze the grass near the river. And sometimes, a predator would come out of the woods too, and capture its prey that wasn’t paying enough attention to its surroundings.

One day though, as she was reading as ever outside, while Gothel wasn’t home, she heard sounds coming from the forest. Then, the sounds disappeared, only to come back louder. She saw a shadow run away in the direction of the village nearby. But in the dark under the trees, it could have been a human or an animal, she couldn’t tell. So, not concerned by what was going on in the woods, she resumed her reading.

But then, there were shouts. A group of people separated to cover more ground, or so she thought she heard something of the like.

A little while after, as she already forgot what all that was about, she saw someone approach on the other side of the wooden bridge. It was a man, wearing an armor on which had been sculpted a golden sun. As he crossed the bridge, he took his helmet off.

“Good day, little one!” he said to Cassandra, waving a hand, “I’m a soldier from the town… Tell me, have you seen a hooded person coming this way lately?”

“I won’t tell, sir. My mom’s told me to not speak to strangers.”

The soldier laughed lightly. This wasn’t quite the answer he was expecting.

“Well, your mother’s right. You’re pretty lucky to live here in the forest,” he sighed.

His face was one tired face, tired of a lot of things. He didn’t seem to know people usually tried avoid this part of the forest, near the witch’s cottage. All he saw was a child alone at home.

“In town, I don’t count anymore the unsolved cases,” he said, remembering one of those that happened not further than the day before.

“Mother told me there weren’t crime anymore in Corona,” said the child, still holding the door handle, ready to close it.

“True, big crime mobs have been imprisoned, or sent far away. Sometimes both. But that doesn’t mean people stop being mean, or violent, or stop trying to get their hands on easy loot, kid. That’s what happened today. There’s been a robbery in town. And a big one, at a jewelry. As I said, you’re pretty lucky to live here!”

“I like it here,” simply said Cassandra.

“I get it, the view is a great one. Well, enough with the small talk, right? Tell me, where can I find your parents? She might have seen something that could help me catch the thief. Can I talk to your father? Or your mom?”

“I don’t think so. Mother doesn’t like strangers who keep asking questions.”

The soldier looked at her suspiciously, asking himself for a moment why her mother didn’t like strangers asking questions. Did her mother had something to hide? Most certainly. But was what she was hiding linked to the robberies in town? That he couldn’t know.

“Well,” he said, “never mind then. I’ll be on my way. If you see anything, try to let me know.”

“How?”

“I can come by sometimes. You’ll let me know then. I still have a criminal to catch. Stay safe, little one. And… Trust no one you don’t know.”

He turned around to go back to the forest, not before winking to her, with a fatherly smile. Cassandra watched him go, but soon went back to her own business in her books. The soldier wouldn’t come back. Why would he? The cottage was alone in this part of the forest, and there was nothing interesting around, except for the town further away by the river.

Still, few days later, as Gothel wasn’t here, which frankly wasn’t that surprising, Cassandra heard someone coming near the house, while she was inside preparing a soup. Through the blurry window, she saw a soldier, the same soldier as before, arrive. Before he could knock on the door, she opened.

“So, did you catch your thief?” she asked him right away.

“Happy to see you too, little one. And yes, this scoundrel will face justice. He was caught red-handed beyond the Corona wall. He won’t be any trouble anymore. And that capture promoted me. I’m the captain of the guards now. And what about you?”

“Cooking. And then, sweeping.”

“Ah, the chores. Hated that as a kid. My mom died young, and my father had me tend to the house while he worked. He was at the docks. Long days of works, and coming back tired and doing nothing much. He wasn’t there a lot… Anyway, with my broom as a sword, I learned a lot of fighting techniques by watching the guards in the castle’s courtyard. I could teach those techniques to you. If you want.”

“Learn something that isn’t sweeping, cooking, embroidering, or,” she stopped herself before saying “magic”. “Yes! I’d love to!”

The soldier went in the garden, and Cassandra followed him, a broom in hand.

“Say we start with some basic move?”

He bent the knees to pose, his sword saying “en garde”, and Cassandra mirrored him.

But in the forest, behind bushes, Gothel was coming home. When she saw from afar what was going at her house’s door, she ran. She pushed the soldier aside, and he fell backward, as Gothel firmly grabbed her daughter by the arms, earning from her a sudden pained cry.

Inside, she locked the door, and closed the curtains. But with the light of the fireplace, the soldier could see them, a tragic shadow play he could only watch. Though he couldn’t understand all the shouts and yells, he saw. Gothel slapped her daughter. Once, twice. Thrice.

Should he enter, take the kid and care for her? Should he ran and search for help? He knew all that too well, he was frozen in place, cursed to remember. He closed his fist, a painful tear escaping his closed eyes.

The captain leaned on the door, and tried to listen. Gothel was shouting inside.

“Don’t talk to strangers! How can I be clearer!? I’ll have us move from here if I need to!”

“Ouch! I’m sorry, mama… It won’t happen again. I won’t answer to anyone, mama… I promise…”

“Oh, sweet child, come here, mama’s sorry to have hurt you… Your mama only wants what’s best for you… I love you, dear.”

“I know, mama… I know… I love you mama…”

“Now, go to your room.”

The captain heard Cassandra walk away, sobbing. But he heard too Gothel coming to the door. He ran away to the woods. When Gothel opened the door, he was long gone.

The next day, he came back near the cottage. As it seemed, the mother wasn’t there. So, carefully, he walked to the door, and knocked gently. There was no answer. He hesitated to go, thinking, after what he heard the day before, that there was maybe no one home. But then, his eyes caught sign of a movement inside, through the closed curtains. After all, the kid was maybe still there. So, the soldier decided to sit against the door, waiting. He heard a rustle behind him, and guessed the kid had sat too on the other side of the closed door.

“I’m not sure if you’re here, or if you can even hear me,” he started aloud. “If you can, well, just know… I overheard, yesterday… If you need anything, I’m here. I know you may not trust me, not know me enough, I’d understand. But I want to help. What I’ve witnessed… And, well, I don’t mean to be intrusive, but it didn’t sound like it was the first time… This kind of maltreatment, trust me, little one, that’s something I stand against. You know, yesterday, I didn’t tell you how my mother died…”

He sighed heavily at the painful memory.

“It was my father. From that day forward, I swore to myself I’d stand for the law, for all who need help… Like you. Please, if you’re here, little one, say something. Knock on the door. I don’t know…”

Cassandra swept away tears running down her cheeks. But she didn’t speak, nor did she knock the wood of the door. Outside, the captain stood up, and sighed deeply. He really wanted to help her. What she lived here, no child should ever live it. It wasn’t right. Still, he couldn’t force the door, and take the kid to the city to a more loving family. No matter how noble the motive, that was a kidnapping. He couldn’t.

“If you don’t want to talk, it’s okay. But after witnessing what I have, just know I’ll try to come back more often. If you don’t want me to, it’s okay. I don’t mind. But be assured that if you ever need someone to listen to you, I’ll be there. I… I should get going. I’m not supposed to be in the forest right now… See you later, little one.”

Cassandra heard him walk away in the woods, and disappear behind the trees and bushes. She was hurt, that was sure. But Mother always told her to not show weakness, that the future holder of the Moonstone shouldn’t be weak. She wasn’t weak. But right now, Mother wasn’t home. Cassandra didn’t hold her tears and sobbing until late that day.

Gothel came back on the morning. She didn’t notice her daughter’s sadness. It wasn’t about her. So she didn’t care. As long as Cassandra learned her magic, and readied herself to be the Moonstone’s host, that was all that mattered to Gothel, no matter what sorrows and griefs she was going through. Those weren’t important. They were futile, useless.

The captain could only go back to the cottage about a month later. And he wasn’t alone. When Cassandra saw him through the curtains, she smiled. Mother was as ever out somewhere, and the only person that seemed to support her was here. She opened the door as always, before he could knock.

“Hello, little one,” he said, staying on the step to the house. “I’ll stay out. If your mother comes back, I wouldn’t want to put you in danger.”

“You’re not. What do you have in your back?” she asked, trying to peer behind him.

“A gift. I thought, if there’s a problem, and you need to inform me, I want to give you this.”

He showed her what he had. It was a cage, under a piece of brown fabric. A gentle noise came from under it. He uncovered the cage, and Cassandra saw what it contained.

“An owl?” she commented, stars in her eyes.

“Yes. He’s from the royal falconry. He was barely dead out of the egg, so that’s what I wrote on the register. But I took him to my quarters to take care of him, and now here is the little guy. I didn’t quite believe he would make it though… But now, he’s alive, more than ever! There’s obviously some training to do, but I tried some games on the way here, he’ll be easy to train. There’s a book on falconry, under his blancket.”

“That’s… I can’t accept, if Mother sees me with an owl, she’ll kill him!”

“That’s not a problem. The birds are from the woods. He can stay out, on a tree, so you can see him. And your mother would never need to know.”

“That’s the nicest thing someone ever gave me… Thank you.”

“I’m glad you already like him. Even if there’s darkness in your home, remember that the world isn’t all darkness. There’s always a light waiting for you somewhere… Now… Is your mother coming home soon?”

“I don’t think so. These days, she’s usually gone for two, or three days in a row. She left yesterday afternoon.”

“Right. Say we practice some moves? I remember she interrupted us the other day…”

“Moves?”

To answer her, he took from his belt two metal swords. He kept one, his own, and gave her the other.

“The owl, why not, but the sword, I cannot take it,” she said as he tried to give her the handle.

“I can bring it how many times you want, little one. And I understand you don’t want your mother finding it. I would feel terribly guilty if she ever hurt you with this… But, for now, let me show you how to spar with one of those.”

And so, he showed her. They fought for hours, training basic moves first, then, trying some advanced techniques, while the owl was watching and mostly sleeping soundly on the house’s roof. Cassandra was a natural with weapons, and that helped the captain’s lesson. At dusk, when the sky started to darken, he proposed they stop there for the day. He would come back later, and they would resume the training. Cassandra was already waiting for it like she never waited for any kind of training before.

And so, for days, he would come back, and they would spar. There were few times he had to turn back, because he saw Gothel at the house, and always remembered the hurt his presence had brought. So, these times, he left and came back later.

With each training lesson, Cassandra became a better swordswoman. The captain nearly never had to fake his defeat and let her win anymore, she would do it all by herself. He was proud to have helped her live something else than the harm her mother brought with her.

One day, as they had stopped the training because of a sudden downpour, they were talking, warming their wet coats and armor by the fireplace, the owl above it drying his feathers as well.

“Do you know any song?” Cassandra asked the captain.

“I’m… not much a singer, little one,” he answered, surprised by the question.

“My mother never sings to me. But I know she sings. I heard her once in the woods. She was coming back, and was humming and singing. But she never ever sang to me like that.”

“I thought you couldn’t leave the area before the river?”

“Well, I did. More than once. Mother leaves me more and more, I know I can go out and she won’t come home soon. It’s not like I was risking anything. Plus, I’ve been working on this last technique you’ve showed me with the sword.”

The captain sighed. It had been few times, he had accepted to leave the sword to her. But what convinced him wasn’t her desire to keep the weapon. In fact, the one he gave her was a newly forged practice weapon, right from the blacksmith, and dull. And, should he let the sword in the castle’s armory, its absence would have been noticed, whereas now, it had never been on any register. So, he found an old sheath and spy clothes he gave her too. Those were way better to spar than the dresses Gothel had as only wardrobe for her daughter.

“Careful,” he said, getting his head back in the conversation, “that move can be dangerous. It took me years before I could master it. And, about songs, well, I’m thinking of a lullaby my mother used to sing to me before…”

“Before your father killed her?” guessed Cassandra, as he couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Yeah… That’s barely the only memory I still have from her. It’s a song about the legend of the Sundrop. Do you know it?”

Cassandra couldn’t help but be intrigued by this. She thought the Sundrop wasn’t known by anyone except her mother. Seemed Gothel had some concurrence.

“I’ve heard of it,” she simply answered.

“Well, here’s how it sounds…

_There’s a flower on a cliff,_

_Some say it heals some say nothing,_

_But those looks on their faces are so stiff,_

_None dare tell if the Flower’s still a thing._

_One could search, one could pray,_

_None would find, none would slay._

_If the Flower’s not to be found,_

_Then none could find its secrets,_

_Not even a well-trained hunting hound._

_And still the Flower’s here on our crest._

_Sleep my little one, one day you’ll see,_

_In the stars high above, flowers looking at the sea.”_

Cassandra stayed silent for a moment. She had never heard of the Sundrop’s story like this. She had barely even heard anyone sing at all aside from her eavesdropping on Gothel. Both were new to her.

“That’s a lovely song,” she said with a fond smile. “And your voice is great too.”

“Thank you. Guess being a soldier doesn’t leave me much occasions to sing though.”

“And, the Sundrop then, is it a myth?”

“Well, years ago, yes, it was. But then, oh, you’ve certainly heard of it, the queen fell ill.”

“That’s terrible,” commented Cassandra while he took a pause.

“Absolutely. The king sent us to search for this myth. It’s said to heal all wounds, you know? Well, we’ve found it, and brought it back to the castle.”

“So, the Sundrop disappeared?” asked Cassandra, thinking for a moment her mother had lied to her about the Flower.

“The Flower, yes, we used it. The Sundrop, I don’t know. All that’s magic, I prefer not to know anything about it. Who knows what dark power that knowledge could even hold? It may have saved the queen and the child she carried, but, it brought a lot of pain and grief too.”

“But why? The Sundrop’s power is to heal.”

“That’s what the legend says. But the night after the baby was born, she was kidnapped. We never found her. And now, I don’t think we’ll ever find her. She could be anywhere.”

“The baby?”

“The princess. Sorry. I’m so used to talking to people who know the entire story, I didn’t imagine you may not know the whole thing.”

“That’s okay. At least, I get to know the story. My mother isn’t really the one to tell those kinds of things. She’s more into practical knowledge. How to sew, to tend to the house… The baby, how was she like?”

“I never saw her myself. But we have pictures. There’s mostly this large mosaic in town. She had already long hair for a newborn, bright blond. You could swear one took a ray of sunlight and put it on her head. And her eyes, well, the artist made them wide and of an emerald green. They say she looked a lot like her mother. Here, that’s her on this coin. And there’s the king.”

He took from his pocket two coins, one silver, one golden. On the silver one was the queen’s face, on the golden one, the king’s.

“The princess must be beautiful,” said Cassandra, looking at the parents’ picture.

“I guess. But I fear we’ll never know. It’s nearly been thirteen years, and still no sign of her. I know the king and queen refuse to believe it, but I think I lost my faith in ever finding the princess. Don’t tell that to anyone. It could revoke my place as captain.”

“I won’t say a word,” she said. “Well, to do that, I’d at least need someone else than my mother and you to talk to.”

“True. Anyway. It’s getting late and the rain has stopped. Tomorrow, I’m training new recruits at the castle. I don’t think I’ll be able to come soon. Take care of yourself and Owl.”

“I will. Safe travel, captain.”

He stood up, and saluted her. It was his way of leaving and telling her she was a soldier like him, this military salute. She followed suit and answered with the same salute, and only then he left the cottage and went back to the city.


	8. A beacon of light in the dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts about six years after the beginning of the last one. Cassandra is 20, and our new character will tell us her age in the chapter...

The captain could only come back to the cottage few weeks after the talk he had with Cassandra about the Sundrop. During this time, she went more and more in the woods, exploring. Owl was always there for her, to guide her through the forest. And as of these few months that soon became years, never Gothel suspected her daughter was leaving the house from time to time. Thanks to Owl, she always came back before her mother.

And so, evading Mother’s hatred for the outside world, Cassandra could go and enjoy the not-so frightening and so very exciting outside world. And even though she technically could, she never went to the nearby town. Sure, the risk of anything happening to her seemed very unlikely, thanks to both her magical and swordsmanship knowledge.

Still, she didn’t know the people. She didn’t know how to behave with them, how to be, to stare, to walk, so not to bring attention to herself. After all, she would be a stranger. And if she was intrigued by the very rare strangers passing by the house from time to time like the captain, why other people wouldn’t be intrigued by her?

So, she spent most of her time away from the cottage in the woods. Owl would send her intel on whether her mother was coming back home or not yet. That way, she could never get caught out of the house.

One day, about three years and a half after the captain first sang his mother’s lullaby, she went deeper in the forest. She had left the house not long after Gothel herself left that day. And Mother had said she would need to leave for a week-long journey to buy some supplies. Cassandra didn’t know what kind of supplies needed her to be gone for so long, but frankly, she didn’t care. It was all for the best after all.

Though, when Gothel left, Cassandra followed her. Her curiosity pushed her to search what she was looking for. Even if it meant tailing her own mother to find out. Cassandra never really knew why she left her all this time all these days alone in the cottage. And now that she knew she could take care of herself thanks to magic, but mostly a sword, there was no way she would just stay home and wait. Magic was great, but she now preferred the feeling of steel in her hands, in lieu of spells.

So, hidden under the spy cloak the captain had offered her, she was after Gothel in the dark of the dawn. The last stars were leaving the sky as the sun was starting to rise. As Cassandra followed, the path was narrower. They were walking along the cliffs that are behind the cottage too. And at last, Gothel stopped, as she had arrived. From above her in a tree, Cassandra watched. Up there, in front of them, there was a tower. It was an old one, or so the high vines climbing the walls seemed to tell. The main room was at the top, and had few windows with colorful panes. There were a lot of flowers too. Seemed like a pretty romantic place, with the waterfall behind the tower, falling from the cliff.

Cassandra watched her mother walk forward to the tower, and snickered to herself at her comment. Gothel never seemed like the social type. Maybe she was wrong. Agilely, she went down the tree and walked too, still hiding behind rocks and trees. In the air, Owl was her eyes in the sky.

At first, Gothel went to the base of the tower. But instead of opening a door, and taking the stairs, she shouted in the clearing. And, to Cassandra’s knowledge, there was no one else than them. A shiver went through her spine. Did Mother find out she had followed her? From where she was, she couldn’t understand what she was shouting. But Gothel was looking the room up there in the tower, so, it seemed unlikely to Cassandra she had been discovered. Finally, after few shouts, she managed to understand the words her mother was declaiming.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

That was… Not what Cassandra was expecting, to say the least. In a beautiful place like this, she even thought for a moment a gentleman, or woman, would come out of the woods and come to Gothel, and they would climb to the tower do who knows what. After all, that would explain why she was ever so cryptic about any close friend or family.

But no, none of this happened. Instead, the window opened, and a long, oh so long rope of golden – wait, was it hair? – was let down to the ground. It wasn’t quite touching the ground, stopping about a meter and a half above the grass, still it was enough for Gothel to grab it and climb, as the hair retracted into the room.

Cassandra could barely believe it. It was absolutely surreal. Hair, hair had fallen from the tower after Gothel had shouted for rapunzel – wait, wasn’t it a flower or something? – to let down said hair, and now, hair was strong enough to lift her on was seemed like a good twenty meters? Magic, there had to be magic involved, or so that was the first conclusion Cassandra came up with.

She waited patiently, and at last, about an hour later, Gothel went down the tower, the same way she went in, with the long hair. Cassandra climbed back in a tree, and hid herself in her brown Coronan spy cloak while her mother was going. Thankfully, Gothel went the opposite way from the cottage, certainly to the town she said she would go. At least, she wouldn’t come home and see her daughter was missing. When she was far enough, Owl landed on a branch near Cassandra. He hooted to her, asking what she would do.

“I don’t know what I’ll do, Owl,” she told him. “I wanted to see the town where my mom was going, but now, you’ve seen what I have, this tower is way more mysterious… I need to take a closer look. You take a look first?”

He hooted again, and flew near the tower’s windows. He had flew too close, it seemed, because Cassandra heard a joyful cry coming from the window. The moment after, a hand, and then an arm came from the opening, until the entire person behind it sat on the windowsill, posing something green on her lap.

“This is so amazing, Pascal! An owl! I’ve never seen one so close before! Oh, he must be lost. Do you think he’s lost?”

Cassandra couldn’t hear all from her spot in the tree. But she could see. And of course, she had taken a spyglass with her. And who she saw was breathtaking. The woman she saw was not much younger than her, but what was striking was the hair. Long, very, very long blond hair that reflected the sunlight. And it was still partly out of the window, falling gently toward the ground, like a golden drop caught in the wind.

That’s when Cassandra was hit by a sudden realization. Sun. Drop. The Flower had been taken from its spot. The captain had said so. But, its power, Mother had said she was still using it, or else she couldn’t be that young most of the time. The Sundrop was real. And it was there, in this tower. That was a lot to take in.

She went down the tree, carefully, while Owl was coming back to land on her shoulder. Should she go in the clearing, and talk to the person up there? Or leave and go back to the cottage? Either way, she would come back at both destinations sooner or later.

So, she walked in the clearing, hiding her face under her hand because of the rising sun, and came closer to the tower. She was still far, and she could hear someone rushing inside. There was no one to tell what was going on in there.

“This is someone’s owl,” she heard from the top of the tower.

As it seemed, the persons up there weren’t aware of the perfect acoustic resonance the cliff’s configuration created.

“What do we do, Pascal!?” asked a frightened voice in the room.

Right, so Cassandra knew there were two persons, at least, up there. Should she try to get to them? The girl from the window looked absolutely beautiful, like no one she had ever seen. Not that she had seen a lot of people in her life anyway. She had to get up there. So, she turned around the tower’s base, but found no door. Odd. The only opening couldn’t be the window. What if the ones in the room weren’t there to help climb? Well, at least Cassandra knew how to climb. This shouldn’t more difficult than tree climbing after all.

She grabbed a stone, then another, and hoisted herself up to put her feet on the next holes between stones. It was a rather easy climbing. It took her a couple of minutes to get to the wooden windowsill, where the window was still opened. That was weird. If the persons in there where dreading anyone coming, they would have closed it at once. Anyway, Cassandra took a moment to catch her breath, looking inside, while Owl flew to rest once more on her shoulder. He kept a watchful eye on the falsely quiet room.

The view from up there was one of a kind. With the forest, you couldn’t see the castle on its island, but with some imagination, in the past, this tower would have been a perfect watchtower. Which it had been, though neither Cassandra nor the person in the tower knew of that, nor of all that had happened there, nor the people that had lived there.

Cassandra sighed at the nice view, and turned around once again, still sat on the windowsill, to watch inside. She saw no one. Well, they must have hide somewhere after all. She tried to put a foot on the floor.

“Stop right there!” shouted someone invisible.

Cassandra held her foot above the floor as though it was lava. She eyed around, searching for anyone, but saw no one.

“Who are you and how did you find my tower?”

“Your tower?” repeated Cassandra. “I’m sorry, there must be a misunderstanding. I just saw my mother leaving this tower. If this place is hers, I doubt this is your home.”

“Your… Mother? Impossible! Don’t lie to me!”

Her interlocutor was still nowhere to be seen. But the voice moved as if she was everywhere in the room at once. Cassandra stayed sat on the windowsill. That way, she could leave in an instant, and no one could attack from behind. If anything was to happen, she would face her opponent.

“I have no reason to lie to you, whoever you are,” she said to the voice. “The woman who left not an hour ago was my mother. Who are you? Show yourself!”

She refrained herself from shouting “coward” to the hidden woman. No need to continue this conversation on unstable grounds.

Finally, the other person appeared, descending from the high room’s framework, suspended by the same golden hair rope Cassandra had seen from her tree before. To see it from up close made it even more surreal than before. Even Owl hooted with surprise when he saw that.

“Oh! This owl is the one I saw earlier!” excitingly shouted the girl who went down the floor, running toward Cassandra and Owl.

“Yeah, that my owl.”

“You have your own owl? What’s its name?”

“… Owl.”

The blond-haired girl seemed disappointed by the answer, but in an instant, her face went from curious to ferocious. She held in her hands a frying pan, with only made Cassandra lift an unconvinced eyebrow. But she got soon enough what the other girl was doing. So Cassandra unsheathed her sword and put in on the floor, sending it away with her foot.

“Ok, now I’m unarmed. Why don’t you?” she asked, pointing the frying pan.

“The woman you saw can’t be your mother,” repeated the other one.

“Agree to disagree, but I’m her flesh. You don’t see the resemblance? Nope? Dark hair, pale face? Rings any bell?”

“I… I’m that woman’s daughter. You can’t be her daughter too.”

“You’re what now?” blurted out Cassandra, eyes wide.

“She’s my mother! And she told me to never trust a stranger! You’re a stranger! I don’t trust anything you tell!”

“Hey, calm down. I don’t even know who you are, except that there’s no way you’re my mom’s daughter! I would have known if I had a sister!”

“I would have known too!”

That silenced them for a moment.

“How old are you?” finally asked Cassandra.

“I’m going on sixteen… Why?”

Cassandra didn’t answer. There were too many things her mind was trying to focus on right now. The girl’s resemblance with the description the captain had made of the princess was truly uncanny. And her age seemed to fit too. But then, why would Gothel keep her here? Why not bring her home, in the cottage, with Cassandra? Why hide her?

“Will you answer or do I have to use this?” the girl asked, showing once more her frying pan.

Cassandra grabbed her wrist and disarmed her in an instant, throwing the frying pan fly through the room.

“Now we’re both unarmed,” she said. “I just want to talk to you, is that ok?”

“I guess… You’re not a man, right?”

“A man?” laughed Cassandra. “No, seriously, do I look like a man to you? Do you even know what a man is?”

That question offended the other girl, whose stance became tenser.

“I’ve been here my whole life, how would I know? You don’t have to make fun of it.”

“Well, sorry, I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious I wasn’t a man.”

“You don’t have pointy teeth?”

“I… No. Why. No forget it. I won’t ask,” Cassandra stopped herself with a sigh.

“Then… I think I can trust you… I’m Rapunzel.”

“Cassandra.”

“So… You said you were my mother’s daughter?” tried Rapunzel, uncertainty in her voice.

“Gothel? Yeah, pretty much. We look alike a lot, and she raised me. She told me how I was born, and all. I think that’s kinda obvious,” explained Cassandra.

“She never told me how I was born… How was it like?”

“How could I know? I wasn’t there. But what I find intriguing is that my, sorry, our mother never told me about you.”

“She said I have to stay here in this tower, and never talk to strangers… Would she hide me from you too?”

“Seems so. May I ask why she keeps you here?”

“I’m not sure she’d like me to tell anyone. She must have a good reason for not telling you.”

“Maybe,” said Cassandra, pensive. “You know what? I’m gonna leave, and who knows? Come back, maybe. We could talk. It’s nice knowing I have someone else to talk to.”

“Will you stay a bit longer? Please… I know I have a lot of things to do here but, I want to know you more, Cassandra.”

“Mother said she wouldn’t be here for a week. She told that too?”

Rapunzel nodded.

“Then I’ll be back tomorrow. And the day after. For the week.”

“I’m counting on it. I think Pascal likes you.”

“Pascal? You said you didn’t know what a man was…”

“He’s my chameleon. Here he is, little cutie pie!”

Said reptile was on Rapunzel’s shoulder, mirroring Owl on Cassandra’s shoulder. The chameleon was looking at them both, and, strangely, didn’t seem to hate them.

“Okay, you know, you seem to know a lot more that you say you do for someone’s who’s never been out of this tower.”

“Well, I read a lot. And Mother talks a lot too. Not that I understand or care for all she says, but, you know, I must have missed a thing or two.”

“I guess. I wasn’t exactly her best student either. Now, I need to leave. We both have things to do, right? I’ll be back tomorrow, about at the same time. You’re okay with that?”

“Do I have a choice?” tried Rapunzel with a hesitant grin.

“Nope. Now, how do I get down this thing?”

“Hair!”

Rapunzel ran to the window, sent her hair through the hook on the outside ceiling, and let it fall on the ground.

“It’ll break,” said Cassandra.

“Nah, it’s stronger than it looks.”

“You’ve ever tried yourself?”

Cassandra immediately knew she shouldn’t have asked that question. Rapunzel’s happy face turned sad. She had really never leaved this room before.

“You know what? I’m sorry. I should’ve known better. I’ll come back tomorrow. Don’t tell anyone I’ve been here. I shouldn’t have come here actually. Have a nice day.”

Without more discussion, she grabbed the hair, and let herself fall to the ground. This visit at the tower had been really surreal.

There was a woman in the tower in the forest. There was. A woman. In a tower. In the forest. That was… surprising. To say the least. And the woman thought Gothel, Cassandra’s mother, was her own mother. That Cassandra knew was wrong. How could it possibly be? Whoever this woman was, she didn’t look at all like Gothel. To think them related would require to, well, not know family or other people to understand on her own.

The rest of the day, Cassandra stayed in the forest, taking a twig as sword, as her own was still on the tower’s floor. She didn’t go back to the cottage directly. Instead, she kept walking, without any destination, just walking and thinking. This day was far from what she thought would have happened, but still, it was a great day. She had learned a lot.

That day, when Cassandra was back at the cottage, the captain was waiting with a rabbit on his lap, skinning it near a fire.

“I was worried when I didn’t saw you,” he said when he saw her coming. “Here, I caught it on the way… Something’s wrong?”

“You could say that… Captain, what did you say the princess’ name was?”

“Now that you ask, I don’t think I ever told you… She was called Rapunzel. Some say it’s because the power that saved her mom was in a flower. Well, see where that leads us… You should eat something. You’re pale. More than usual.”

“Yeah, I’ll eat. I just need some rest right now. Good night. I’ll lock the door.”

“Good night, Cassandra.”

She left him in the garden in front of the house and went in, a plate of rabbit meat in her hands. He left not long after, and went back in town. But most importantly, he had given her the last piece of the puzzle she had uncovered that day.

In her room, Cassandra yelled and shouted in her pillows. But it wasn’t an angry yell, nor a frustrated one. It was a winner yell. She knew where both the Sundrop and the princess were. Gothel would be so happy to know her daughter had find her, and so would the captain.

But then, Cassandra reminded herself Mother was at the tower earlier that day, or else she would never have found it. Mother knew. And had never told any of her daughters of her other daughter. Or should Cassandra even call Rapunzel Gothel’s daughter? She was more and more sure there were lies in all this. Rapunzel wasn’t her sister, not even half-sister. They didn’t look alike. Not at all. And she was younger than Cassandra. She would have noticed if her mother had been pregnant with her. What was her mother hiding to think she had to keep all these secrets?

There was mysteries in all that, and Cassandra couldn’t tell anyone until she discovered why her own mother was keeping so many secrets. So many secrets… Surely Cassandra should keep all that silent and tell no one. She didn’t really know why she had said to Rapunzel to not speak of her to Gothel, but now, she was sure it was the best and only idea. Mother should never know her secret was out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, writing this chapter: isn't it a bit too weird for Raps to not know what a man is?  
> Also me: she never left the tower. Her only source of information is Gothel. It's not the cooking/geology/botany books that will teach her much about that. Did Gothel ever gave her The Talk? o_0
> 
> I headcanon in this AU that Gothel gave a talk about puberty to both her daughters because they went through it, but, well, only very basic stuff, as none of them were even supposed to know anyone else than their mother in their whole lives. For Cass, as she knows the Captain, I think there was a day when it somehow came in the conversation and he explained more things to her, but mostly on the angle he knows best, from the law.
> 
> Also, as Christmas is coming, I plan on taking a one-week hiatus on the release... See you next Monday! Or Friday, haven't decided yet ^^  
> Merry Christmas to you all!


	9. When stars are close, they shine brighter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls take some time to know each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter like the n°7 with the captain will span over about 1-2 years. After this one, the pace will be more stable.  
> At first, this chapter and the next were only one, but while re-reading, I noticed it made more sense pace-wise to cut it in two. So both are a bit shorter than the other chapters.

The same week, Cassandra went back to the tower everyday. At first, it was odd for both of them, to know they both knew Gothel as their mother. And as they talked of her, there was no doubt they were talking about the same woman.

And even when Gothel was back from her journey to get paints in another town’s reputed market, Cassandra would use the now rarer times she wasn’t at the tower nor the cottage to visit Rapunzel. And all those times, Owl would keep an eye on the forest from the sky, and inform her if anything was happening.

One of the first things Cassandra realized was of course that Rapunzel was truly both the Sundrop and the missing princess. Yet, she told her nothing. To tell her she was a magical cosmic artifact would bring an awaited existential realization, while to tell her she was the missing princess could bring the need to leave the tower, and search for this family out there waiting for her. Plus, there was no one to tell how she would react, learning that the only person she had ever known as family wasn’t family at all. So, Cassandra kept that as a secret, and instead, thought of the time she spent with Rapunzel as a very enjoyable time.

After the second day coming to the tower, she had told the captain he didn’t have to come to the cottage anymore, that she wouldn’t be there, now that Mother wasn’t home few days. He had said he understood, and so he went, and, as far as she knows, never came back. She knew he must have felt abandoned, his excursions in the forest to see her had been a relief from all his duties in the city. But she couldn’t let him suspect her other activities, and search for her in fear of Gothel doing anything more harmful than usual to her. If he ever were to search for her and find the tower, that would break the tranquility Cassandra had found there with Rapunzel. And if Rapunzel was trusting Cassandra, she couldn’t tell how it would be, to meet another person.

That way, she could go to the tower, and up there, she was trying to understand Rapunzel, while correcting some things Gothel had told her. Mother had instilled fear of the outside world to Rapunzel, and it was on a total different level that what she ever told Cassandra. Thanks to the captain bringing news from the town, she now could tell right from wrong, truth from lies, and now Rapunzel could too, day after day, though she had more difficulties to sometimes accept some facts.

To her real daughter, Gothel had only said that the world was so wide she would get lost, would she ever cross the bridge of the house, that in the woods were wolves and foxes and ferocious birds of prey only waiting for a her to walk on their patch and capture her, eating her.

To Rapunzel, she had told the world was a dangerous place full of people that would only try to hurt her, that any step outside was a step nearer to death and despair, that terrible things would happen to herself because of the lack of knowledge she had of this world and the dangers in it.

Cassandra had been taught everything that would harden her spirit enough to prepare for the forecasted journey to the Moonstone she was told from birth she had to find.

Rapunzel had been taught everything that could hurt her, that could endanger her, everything was done so she feared all that wasn’t the tower, all that wasn’t secure enough to keep her safe.

Gothel had made Rapunzel so afraid of the world outside the tower that, about a month after they first met, the first time Cassandra actually proposed her to set food on the ground below, to walk a bit away from the parquet of her only room, she refused, and isolated herself in her bedroom, never leaving it of all day. This nourished Cassandra’s choice to not tell her who she now knew Rapunzel really was. And so, instead of leaving the tower, Cassandra brought things from outside each time she came back.

She brought flowers, some wood to carve and sculpt, pages from books, even games sometimes. Once, she caught a rabbit, another day a young boar, few days later a couple of pigeons. Those changed from the simple vegetables and meat from the market Gothel always brought to the tower. And because she had taught both her daughters how to cook, Cassandra and Rapunzel would prepare their meals together, sharing tips they had discovered over the years of having nothing much to do than what Gothel made them do.

Over the many times they were together, both learned a lot from the other. Cassandra learned a lot about Rapunzel, and so did Rapunzel about her new friend. Cassandra showed her some magic tricks Gothel had told her, and after some hesitations, Rapunzel showed her the magic she held in her hair. And if a princess held in a tower lost in the forest was already surreal, then the magic of the Sundrop couldn’t be real.

Yet, it was very real.

Soon, months and then a year passed.

One day, after Cassandra fell badly on her way to the tower, Rapunzel healed her with the incantation. It was then she showed her her magic for the very first time. That day, there wasn’t hair anymore. There was a river of magic coursing through the room, lighting everything even without any candle lit.

“Flower gleam and glow-”

That started the illumination of the whole room.

“-Let your power shine-”

The yellow light coming from Rapunzel’s head ran through her hair.

“-Make the clock reverse-”

Sat on the floor against the windowsill, Cassandra was watching as her red bloody bruises closed as if time was sewing them faster than normal.

“-Bring back what once was mine-”

That line caught Cassandra’s attention. She lifted her head to face Rapunzel, still singing, still shining, eyes closed.

“-Heal what has been hurt-”

The bruises seemed like bad memories already.

“-Change the fate design-”

There was a sudden shift in what Cassandra was seeing. For a fraction of seconds, she swore she saw the tower, on the ground, fallen. The next moment, she was right back inside the room, perfectly safe.

“-Save what has been lost-”

At last, all the pain and proves of any wound was gone, even the ancient bruises of training and falling in the forest, scratching against a tree’s bark to hide from Mother or fighting against an animal that only sought to protect its territory. Or even bruises caused by Mother herself.

“-Bring back what once was mine-”

That was… not the line Cassandra expected to hear repeated.

“-What once was mine.”

Once again, the line caught her off-guard. She didn’t know whether she should stay there against the wall, trapped in the loose glowing and healing hair, or stand up and ask why those lines.

Finally, it was Rapunzel who took her hair back, smiling gently, and offered her hand to Cassandra to help her get up.

“This last line, “bring back what once was mine”… I don’t understand…” she simply said, brushing the pleats of her tunic.

“I don’t really know where the song comes from…” admitted Rapunzel. “I’ve known it since I was a baby. Mother always sang it to me.”

“I see… And when she sings it, she gets younger?”

“I guess. It has always been so normal to see her change like that, I’ve never really known what was causing the change, if it was in her, or if it had to do with my glowing hair. It all became clearer only a few years ago. I fell from the framework, up there, you see? You can still see the paint that fell that day on the wood. Well, I hurt myself, I didn’t want Mother to know, and to console myself, I sang, and then I realized it was my magic that healed Mother, that healed me that day.”

“That must have been quite a shock,” guessed Cassandra.

“Well, yes and no. I mean, I never knew for sure but then, thinking back, it fells like it was the only explanation. It’s logical I mean.”

“Yeah, I get it. And so, what was once yours?”

“I don’t know. Mother sang the song, but never told me where it was from. Maybe it’s about her youth, maybe it’s something else… I don’t know.”

“You healed me… Maybe… I was once what was yours?” guessed Cassandra with a smirk.

“I wish,” replied Rapunzel with an even larger smirk.

They kept their eyes locked to each other for seconds that felt like minutes, not daring turn their head a single moment. Until Cassandra shook her head with a laugh, and yawned, before stretching her arms.

“Anyway, that fall made me tired… I should take a nap. What are you gonna do?”

For a moment, Rapunzel seemed pensive. She waited for Cassandra all days so they could do things together, so none of them had to be alone, and today, she was leaving her. Sure, she would still be in the tower, but it wouldn’t be the same.

“I’ll just stay there and find something to do, I guess,” she said after some time.

“Do I take your room or… there’s maybe an armchair or something, right?”

“You want to sleep in an armchair? How can you sleep in these?”

“I’m used to it,” answered Cassandra with a shrug. “When I was a kid and I upset Mother, she had me stay in the living room for the night. I got used to sleeping in the armchair. She told me I was born there. Feels like coming back where it all began in a way.”

“I don’t think I’d like to sleep where I was born… I have a weird feeling about that…”

Before she thought of any answer, Cassandra reminded herself of the true identity of her “sister”.

“Yeah, about that, let’s not talk about the past too much, right?”

“Mhm… Okay.”

Cassandra was the first to look around, and find a couple of covers in an armoire. She took them out and threw them on the ground, patting them to prepare a somewhat of a mattress. Rapunzel watched her curiously moving things around, and then let herself fall there, a soft cushion under her head.

“You could’ve taken my room, you know?” she reminded her, sitting on the ground next to the pile of covers.

“What’s the point of being here if I’m hiding from you, Raps?”

“Raps?”

“Oh, sorry, Rapunzel. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s just… when Mother give me nicknames, it’s always about flowers and all. She never used Raps for me… I like it. It sounds like you. Do you mind if I call you Cass?”

“Not at all.”

She closed her eyes, but soon reopened them. Rapunzel was still watching her with a wide nurturing smile.

“Are you going to watch me sleep?” lifting her head just enough to see her more clearly.

“Maybe… Don’t mind me.”

She let Cassandra fall again on the covers. Rapunzel took one sheet fallen by her side, and brought it above her shoulders. She had watched Cassandra sleep few times. Seems the life outside of the tower was a tiring one. Another reason to stay up here. She brushed a lock of hair off of Cassandra’s face around her ear, and sat just next to her, taking her cold hand out of the covers in hers. The smile the gesture brought to Cassandra was everything Rapunzel was missing from Mother. Happiness and love. Real family.

Then, quietly, with her other hand, she caught a piece of paper that had fallen not far when she had been emptying the armoire. A pen in hand, a soothing scratching sound filled the room. As much as Rapunzel would love to paint Cassandra on the walls like she did her in the years she had spent there, the other woman had told her no, firmly. There was no good reason for Gothel to know both her daughter knew each other, and had met several times.

And those drawings, she offered them all to Cassandra. And in the cottage, Cassandra hid them where she was hiding her old wand toys. There was no wand toys anymore. There was only wood sculpted by knife to look like swords and Rapunzel’s drawings of her.

Whenever they were together, they never outshone each other, like Gothel outshone them by her only presence and disgust of childhood. They always taught each other things they couldn’t know because their lives had been so different. Without Gothel watching, it was like seeing them, the real them, for the first time. And each time, when Cassandra was at the tower, Owl would stay in the air as lookout of the moment Mother would come. So far, it had been nearly two years, and they had never been caught.


	10. United against the darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's better to escape 2020 than to have an escape? ^^
> 
> I hope this chapter isn't too messy, I did kinda a lot of rewrites of some paragraphs... but well, in this chapter more than in others, the perfectionist in me is adding something each time I read it, so better say this version is the final version ^^'

One day of spring, after about two years of secret meetings, Cassandra came to the tower with a basket of flowers and berries to cook for lunch. Gothel was gone for the day, busy buying paints for Rapunzel. The young lady had gotten the hang of always asking her these, and other things, trying to get her away from the tower. And so far, it worked.

As Cassandra was older, Gothel never regretted leaving her for whole days in the cottage. Or so she thought she was at the cottage. But Rapunzel, the precious Sundrop, she ought stay as long as possible in the Tower. That was how things were with Gothel.

And so, that day, after a good meal, the girls went sunbathing on the windowsill. The wind was still of bit chilly because of the end of winter, but the warmth of the incoming spring, and the sun coming both from the sky and Rapunzel sufficed to not feel any cold.

They were sitting next to another, quietly watching Owl circling the sky above the clearing and dive from time to time in the woods, sometimes coming back with a mouse in his talons. Rapunzel’s chameleon, Pascal, was inside, behind them yet getting the sun’s light, laying on a cushion to keep his cold-blooded body warm.

As times passed this afternoon, Cassandra noticed they were closer than when they went earlier to sit on the windowsill. It felt… odd, and even so… so reassuring. They had more and more times been close to one another, hugging, holding each other when sometimes one was sad. Yet, this day, it felt different. Warmer. Cosier. Even… somehow romantic, she thought.

She felt Rapunzel moving her arms, stretching, and then bringing back her arms on the wood. Except… her left arm was around Cassandra’s back this time. Cass didn’t react, just smiled to her. Rapunzel didn’t need more to allow herself to turn and lay her head against her neck. To that, Cassandra answered by shifting gently so they could be more comfortable, and brought her right arm around Rapunzel’s back to mirror her. Her other hand found Rapunzel’s thigh. For a moment, there was no reaction.

Wind was colder, and Rapunzel shivered, which caused her to nuzzle closer to Cassandra, who tightened her right arm around her. Minutes passed like this, holding each other, eyes closed, just enjoying the scent of each other, of the world outside the tower coming with the wind, and hoots of Owl away in the forest. It was all too perfect.

A cloud shadowed the sun and the temperature dropped a bit. Not much, but enough for Rapunzel to get out of the embrace to get a cover. Or at least try. Cassandra loosened her grip, quite reluctantly. Rapunzel was still sat, and turned around to get up. Cassandra seized the moment.

For a short instant as she moved, their faces were closed, lips nearly brushing each other’s sun-kissed skin, and she closed the gap between them. It all happened so quickly. Cassandra put her hand on the cold painted wood behind Rapunzel. She was drawn magnetically, unable to let go, melting into the kiss, returning it, savoring every moment, heart pounding at the surprised yet welcomed touch.

It ended abruptly. Reality caught Cassandra in a blink, and she let go, her hands searching the ground behind her, dragging her away, pulling her on the ground. She fell backward in the main room, as she caught her breath and sheepishly stood up, hugging herself and backing off to the wall.

Rapunzel was by her side faster than she could imagine.

“Cassandra, are you okay?” she asked, thinking more about the fall than the kiss.

“I… This was a mistake, Raps… I’m sorry…”

“I don’t get it…”

“I shouldn’t have kissed you!”

“But… I liked it…” said Rapunzel, trying to take Cassandra’s hand in hers.

She refused to see her so suddenly sad and uneasy.

“You what?”

“I’ve never been kissed before, not like this… It was nice, Cass… Can I kiss you back?”

“Yes! Wait, no, I mean… we shouldn’t.”

“Why that? Mother’s not there, we don’t risk anything. She’s not coming back soon.”

“Because you… I… err… Raps! We share the same mother! I shouldn’t even like you this way… I shouldn’t…”

“Cass… It’s okay. You told me once that Mother maybe wasn’t my birth mom… does it change anything?”

“I only said that because you don’t look like her. But you have magic in you. Magic one couldn’t pretend to understand. Maybe you’re really… I have doubts… but no tangible proof… And I know I can’t ask Mother face to face. If she ever finds out I’m seeing you, she’ll move you away from here, we’ll never see each other again!”

Rapunzel thought a moment before answering. That was a lot to take in.

After all, Cassandra had told her few weeks ago about her doubts on Rapunzel’s true parentage. She had said it was odd their mother kept her existence secret, that she didn’t look like her, that she had never seen Gothel pregnant, that, even without listing all Cassandra had noticed over the two years, it was too odd to be real. And even though she hadn’t name anyone yet as hypothetical birth parents, that awakened doubt in Rapunzel too. And now, it felt more difficult to see Gothel as her mother. Thankfully, she still had Cassandra with her. They would never let anything break them as long as they were together.

“Then, why don’t we move together away from her?” she asked Cassandra.

“Are you kidding?”

“I’m not. You spend your whole life out there. I’ve only known this tower. Before, I wasn’t ready, but now I think I am. Down there, all that I’m supposed to fear, I’m never seen any of it. You spend you time there, and you’ve never seen any of it. This isn’t a life… Take me with you.”

“Well… That could work,” commented Cassandra. “You remember the lanterns?”

“You bet I do!” nearly shouted Rapunzel, caught by her secret longing to see the lanterns.

She had told once Cassandra she wanted to see the lanterns, even if only once. Actually, Mother always repeated they were stars. But thanks to what she saw years ago with Gothel’s spyglass, and thanks to the captain confirming it, Cassandra knew they were lanterns, and had said so to Rapunzel. Still, she hadn’t yet told her that the captain explained the lanterns were for the lost princess. She would tell her one day. But not yet.

But then, when Rapunzel had told her she wanted to see the lanterns, at first Cassandra had said she was still too young, that if anything was to happen, she would blame herself. She had said that, even if she could assure Rapunzel’s safety in the woods near the tower, neither of them knew the town, these uncharted territories near the lanterns. And that was a risk not worth taking as long as they didn’t know enough of the life out of their respective homes. So, Rapunzel had stopped asking.

“Right,” said Cassandra. “The night after the lanterns, I’ll come for you. Not before. Find a reason for Mother to leave, and I’ll have enough time to ready our stuff and find us mounts.”

“But… Cass, I want to see the lanterns… Why not come before them?”

“It’s not even a week away from today, I won’t have enough time. I have to copy my mother’s maps, or else, where would we go? If we don’t know where to go, she will find us and all would have been for nothing!”

Rapunzel wanted to retort, and was cut as she opened her mouth. A chanting voice from outside was calling.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

“Why didn’t Owl say a thing?” cursed Cassandra, grabbing her bag on the floor.

Near the window, Owl was hooting, again and again. They were just… having more important matter in hand. Owl hooted sharply, and flew out of the window, as Gothel called again.

“I don’t have time to leave…” said Cassandra. “I’ll go hide in your room. Please, don’t blow up my cover.”

“Never,” promised Rapunzel, before showing a knowing side grin. “Well… Only if you give me a kiss.”

“… Fine,” accepted Cassandra.

She leaned to kiss Rapunzel’s lips once more, this time more softly, chastely, but she didn’t let the moment live long. Gothel called again. Cassandra ran to the bedroom upstairs. From behind the nearly closed door, she saw Mother enter through the window as always.

“Oh, dear Flower, what took you so long?” she asked Rapunzel.

“I… Was in my room, I didn’t hear you at first,” Rapunzel assured.

Reassured, Cassandra closed and locked the door, before letting herself fall on the bed. Her voice covered by the many sheets and pillows, she cursed herself over and over, her subconscious hoping she wasn’t too loud.

“Dammit! Why did I say that!? I love Rapunzel! Why can’t I just simply tell her?! We’re not friends… We’re so much more… I know who she is! Why can’t I just tell her!? The captain described her, I saw the coins, the lost princess… Everything matches! She is the lost princess… I can’t let her see the lanterns… If she were to be discovered, we would be apart… Once and for all… I can’t let that happen! I can’t lose her! I love her! Why isn’t easy to just tell her?! Arrrr… Dammit!”

She must have shouted that last curse out of the pillows, because when she stopped, she heard nothing from downstairs. And the first thing Gothel always did when she was at the tower was to have Rapunzel sing the Sundrop incantation to rejuvenate herself. And today, there was no song.

Cassandra stood up, unsure whether to try to hide behind the door, if that would be enough to run out of the tower if it was to open. But the only time she took to evaluate her chances turned against her.

The door was slammed open by Gothel, angry, oh so very angry.

“What are you doing here, child?!” she yelled to her daughter, grabbing her arm and dragging her to the stairs. “You have no business here! Get out now!”

“Mother, let go of me!” ordered Cassandra, unsuccessful.

Gothel threw her unceremoniously down the stairs, letting her fall on the steps and the floor. Cassandra stood up, but instead of running, or jumping through the window with little luck of not being hurt by the fall, she stood her ground. Rapunzel was near, and was by her side as Mother was down the stairs too. In a reflex, Cassandra put her arm in front of Rapunzel, shielding her as well as she could.

“What do you think you’re doing here, Cassandra?” asked Gothel, disdainful.

“I’ve been here longer than you could imagine. You don’t get to say where I should be!”

“If there is one place I don’t want you, it’s here! Leave! Leave this tower, and never return, Cassandra! We’ll talk about this.”

“Or are we?”

Cassandra grabbed her sword from her belt she always left by the window, and maintained the distance between her and Gothel.

“A sword? How pitiful… Do you really think this piece of metal junk can scare me?”

“Stay away!”

“You wouldn’t be scared of your dear, sweet mama, Cassandra, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m done being scared, Mother!”

“Cass… What are you talking about?” asked Rapunzel, fear piercing in her voice.

“Raps… change of plan. We’re leaving today.”

“What?”

“The window. Take my stuff, whatever you can of yours and leave. I’ll catch up with you. I’ll hold off Mother.”

“Don’t you dare leaving so soon!” yelled Gothel, extending an arm.

Wind burst through the room, coming from nowhere.

“Your magic can’t stop us, Mother!” shouted Cassandra through the whistle of the wind.

Sword still in hand, she crossed her arms and mumbled words Gothel had made her learn long ago. One of the first spells she had ever known. A spell to counter any other, as long as their strengths were equal enough to be neutralized. She swiftly uncrossed her arms and the wind burst against Gothel, tackling her against the stairs’ balustrade.

That bought her enough time to help Rapunzel get down of the window, with Pascal on her shoulder, seemingly not understanding the origin of all this fuss. Soon, her hair was on the hook on the roof and she was slowly descending her long rope of golden hair. But setting foot on the grass… she hesitated. This was all new.

Inside the tower, the shock of the wind and the blow of her head against the stairs had made Gothel lose consciousness. Cassandra took advantage of the situation and attached her to the first baluster with a clothesline.

“I’m sorry, Mother, after all you did for me. But you hid a lot from me too, because of you I have to keep secrets from Rapunzel and… and I can’t let you continue like this. I know who she is,” she said to her unconscious mother, knotting the rope tightly.

And so, Cassandra took her bag, grabbed her sword and belt, and left the tower. When she was down with Rapunzel, they hugged and held each other close for minutes, reassuring one another that they were finally free of Gothel’s schemes.

But there was no time to lose. They had to leave the area, before Gothel wakes up and finds a way to get to them wherever they could be. She was a witch, she would find them one day or another. The later the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the run! A lot will happen in the next chapters ^^
> 
> I'll maybe skip the update next monday. Next week I got the last finals of the semester, and though releasing this fic is a much needed break from schoolwork, I prefer to rush nothing and delay the fic a bit.
> 
> I wish you all a great year 2021!


	11. Escape and search for help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My finals are over, time for a new chapter! ^^

When Gothel reopened her eyes, she found herself attached to the baluster of the stairs. Foolish. But not foolish of her to have let herself be caught. Foolish of her own daughter to think this could hold her. She cast the right spell, and was out of the tight and thin clothesline in no time. That was beginner stuff.

Before she had found Cassandra in Rapunzel’s room earlier, she had had a short time to receive the Sundrop’s power. Not much, but it would have to be enough. She looked outside through the window. Night had fallen. How long was she attached? Hours, that was sure. Her little storm had served her purpose at least… Not against the right person.

Where would her daughters go? Rapunzel knew nothing of the outside world and Cassandra… Gothel found herself unable to say how much of the outside world she really knew and understood. She had to think fast. She couldn’t let them escape too far. Not after all she had done for them three to succeed in their future quest for the Moonstone. Would that quest even take place now?

Gothel had so many questions, and right now, none had answers. For the immediate future, she chose to search the entire tower, everything that could hold the key to where her daughters would be headed. Though no one could make her admit it out loud, she hoped she wasn’t on a wild goose chase, that she would find something in the end.

~ ~ ~

As for where Cassandra and Rapunzel really were, they weren’t that far from the tower. Cassandra had said they should go to the cottage and take maps, books on magic, weapons, all that could help them, protect them on whatever journey or exile they were about to go on.

“So… That was where you lived?” asked Rapunzel, walking in the house while Cassandra was taking stuff out of furnitures.

“Yeah. Could you pass me the cloak on the wall, please? Thanks.”

“Isn’t it weird to live at the forest’s level? I mean… I’ve always seen it from above.”

“I get what you mean… And I guess you just need to be used to it. I was a bit disoriented too when I first came to the tower after all, Raps. That was the highest point I’ve ever been at the time.”

“Really?”

“Really. I’m going to the cellar, see if we can grab some food. I don’t know if I can trust that we’ll find on the road. Neither of us had ever done that before…”

“Right… Do you want me to take a bag?”

“Why not. Here, there’s a full ham, sealed jars of soups, that should do it.”

“Why did Mother keep all this? I don’t understand.”

“I guess she didn’t went to town as much as she told us,” suggested Cassandra, taking a second ham. “So, she might have needed to have that big cellar, just in case… Let’s not linger here, I still need to take some books. I don’t know where we’re headed, but if I can teach you a bit of magic, we’ll be more protected.”

“Magic? Like the one in my hair?”

“Yeah, but not only this one. Raps, you told me if someone cut your hair, you’ll lose your power. If this were to happen, and I hope it won’t, we can’t take any risk. I’ll teach you some basic magic spells, like Mother did to me, and defense sparring.”

“Not attack?” noticed Rapunzel with a resigned face.

“I have only one sword. And I know best how to use it. Until we find you another one, I need to be the one to use it. We can’t take any risk. We’ll be on the roads. We won’t be alone. And I have no idea of what, or who we’ll find. We have to be prepared for anything.”

“Cass, you don’t have to scare me.”

“I’m as scared as you are, Raps, maybe more. I feel this journey already weighting on my shoulders. Because I know the outside world better, because I’m older, and I feel responsible for both of us. But I know this won’t be enough, and I fear we won’t be enough, no matter what we find. We can’t let anything happen to us, Raps. If we do, Mother will be right about everything. You want that to happen?”

“Of course not! I want to see the world! Not to go back in the tower…” she admitted.

“Then we can’t let anything get in our way. Here, we’ll take this cart for the food. Follow me, I’m getting my books.”

“You have maps of where we’re headed?”

“First thing I took coming in,” said Cassandra, showing her satchel full of maps on scrolls.

“And, the cart… you want to pull it all the way?”

“Guess I’ll go in town to find a horse. Well… Find… Big words. Steal. I’ll need you to stay away from the town. If I were to be chased, I’ll have to be fast. And no offense, but you didn’t exactly practice running a lot in the tower.”

“None taken… I trust you, Cass.”

Rapunzel took Cassandra hands in hers, and pulled her into a hug. They needed that. After all those visits, in the secret of the tower, they were finally out. And their journey had only begun.

During the next hour, they gathered more stuff. Mostly knowledge for Cassandra to teach the magic she knew to Rapunzel, more food, and another set of clothes. If anything was to get in their way, they were good to lose most of it no matter how hard they tried to keep everything.

Two hours later, Cassandra went to the town. She was wearing one of her mother’s many cloaks, a deep blue one. There weren’t a lot of people in the streets. Soon, near a barn, she saw a horse. She approached it, gently, with a handful of grass as peace offering, and waited a moment to see the horse’s reaction. It came to her, and nuzzled against her hand while it ate the grass.

That was all Cassandra was waiting for. She grabbed the horse’s mane and agilely climb on its back, causing it to arch to get her off, yet she managed to stay. It didn’t take long before the horse chose to finally stop and lay down, nearly making her fall on its side. Cassandra grumbled but persevered. This horse was coming with her. No matter what. But she had to act fast. The noises seemed to have caught the attention of few passersby. She had to go hide against the barn’s wall until they would get away.

And against the barn, she felt a warm breathing fall upon her shoulder. She looked up, and saw another horse, locked inside the stables. She looked at it, alone, locked up. She saw her reflection. The hotheaded horse outside had made its point. This horse alone and locked away would do a way better job. She opened the stables door, caressed the horse’s neck and side, as if to ask the brown furred mare if she could ride her, and then, taking the silence as an approbation, climbed. And they ran, together, they jumped over the barrier, and soon, disappeared from sight.

Soon, they were back at the cottage. With Rapunzel, Cassandra harnessed the two-wheeled cart to the mare, and they went on their journey. First, they were going east, through the mountains, away from the city.

~ ~ ~

Gothel was still in the tower, disoriented. She had designed the wind blow to keep her daughter away, and now she was the one put aside. She had to think fast. Where could they go? Nowhere, they knew nothing of the world. So she could still find them. She needed a tracking spell. She just had to go to her cottage, find one, and her precious daughters will be back home… Safe and sound? Not so much. Gothel would have a word or two to tell them first. And only then things could go back to normal.

She rushed through the staircase she had locked long ago, this staircase where, even way more long ago, her path and Xavier’s had parted. If she were to find nothing at the cottage, which was highly improbable, she could still go to another well filled library…

The night was dark, darker than usual. This was a cloudy night, neither the light of the stars nor the moon could pierce through the dark clouds. Light spells were among the easiest. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t know the path for the cottage.

When she arrived at her home, the door was wide open. Inside, a storm had passed. Gothel knew right away what happened. Most of the books about magic were missing. Other had been left to burn in the fireplace, destroying all that she could ever use against those who were now running from her.

That wasn’t enough to stop her. Even without the full healing of the Sundrop, she was still powerful. In an instant, she teleported herself in Corona. But she had to be careful. If she used her magic too much, she would weaken herself. Now, she had to walk. Until a library she knew well.

The forge was surprisingly still open. Xavier was closing for the night. He didn’t heard her arrive from behind. Gothel stood there for a moment, not sure whether she should ask her old friend right away about her need for magic books, or if she should let him finish his cleaning. Soon enough, he noticed her presence.

“What can I do for you, ma’am?” asked Xavier, a metal tool in a piece of sooty leather in hands. “I’m closing the forge anyway. You should come back tomorrow.”

“I… Xavier, it’s me, Gothel. I need your help.”

“Gothel? No, I don’t know anyone with this name. You must confuse me with someone else.”

“I’m not! Xavier! I need your library. Immediately. I lost something. And there had to be a way in your books to help me!”

“Ma’am, I will ask you to leave this forge. I don’t know who you are, nor what you want. If it’s books you want, go to the bookshop. I can’t help you.”

“Why don’t you remember me?”

“I’m not senile, I know that I’ve never seen you in my entire life,” he assured.

“I wouldn’t have… Oh… I did erase your memory, that night long ago, didn’t I?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re delusional. Get out of my shop. Now. Before I need to call the guards.”

“I’ll find my way out. I… Thanks.”

Gothel couldn’t abandon. Up there, few meters away from her, there was Xavier’s library, full of books about magic, and spells ready to be cast. She left. But for as long as he was busy in the forge, she took her time to search the library. Getting in, as always, was a piece of cake. Not as if it was her first time anyway.

There was still the little winter garden, and, kneeling to the narcissus Xavier let grow in the magical soil, she allowed herself few minutes to sing the Sundrop Incantation. This miserable portion of the old and mighty power seemed insignificant there, just some dirt around a bunch of flowers and vegetables. But it was here anyway. And if Xavier had survived all the time since the Flower itself had been taken out from its cliff, then it meant this cutting was still working. And Xavier could never notice her having used the Sundrop he had.

She was soon in the library, scouring the shelves for anything. Tracking spell weren’t usually easy. Most of the time, the caster would need the person or object tracked to cast a spell on it, and then, another spell could find the first one. Tracking an unmarked person wouldn’t be that simple.

Strangely, most of the books about magic were missing. Certainly a side effect of her memory spell, and Xavier displaced all linked to magic from this part of the house. Frustrated and tired of losing her time, Gothel threw most of the shelves off the wall and left, leaving a rampaged room.

The noises of books falling caught Xavier’s attention. He had just finished closing his workshop. When he entered his home, he saw Gothel’s shadow running away in the streets.

“Who are you?” he asked to himself.

He knelt on the floor of his library, gathering back his many books. In one that had fallen open, a dried flower fell from the cover.

“What? How did that got here?”

His muttering didn’t give him any answer. But the dried flower did. It was a forget-me-not, one he remembered having picked one day not long after the birth of the princess. He had put the flower in the book, as a souvenir of this simple trip he had taken in the woods. Or was it really that? While he thought of that day, he couldn’t see the forest anymore. He only saw a hooded person, the same woman who just left in a hurry. What did she say her name was? Gothel?

He couldn’t remember it, but, yes, just having the frail forget-me-nots in hand, now, he thought he remembered. He had helped her, long ago. With what? It was still a blurry memory. And how long ago? There was a storm, an avalanche, he had been with his then master Demanitus, not yet lord. But… was there someone in the snow? Yes, in fact yes, his mind reminded him there was someone. The same woman from earlier. And then, with Herz Der Sonne… The day he left his group, she was there too. And many, many years later… there was a cottage, after the woods, against cliffs… And baby cries…

The memories hit him. He knew Gothel. He had helped her many and many times, more than he should have, as she never did help him back. Why stop now? She didn’t find what she was looking for. But now, Xavier understood why she was searching. She had said she had lost something. Seemed to Xavier it was more likely to be someone. He had to warn the king and queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently nearly at the writing step of the final chapters of the third part and let me tell you... a lot will happen 😎


	12. A welcomed pawn and a mythical spell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets are told, legends help, and new characters come into the chase...

When she was back at the empty tower during the night, Gothel was enraged. She had never been a tracker. Even with magic, she had never needed to use tracking magic. And now, she realized how much of a fool she had been for so long, relying nearly only on magic. Was it for her daily simple tasks or her own life source, magic was all she had. Even more than her very own daughter.

Tracking without magic wasn’t an easy task one could pretend to know and master. You needed to know the field, the real field, and all related to it. To run blindly would assure failure.

As she kept rummaging in her dark thoughts, she heard the sounds of someone running outside the tower. Could it be? Could her daughters be coming home? All didn’t have to be so bad after all. Until… The someone running climbed the tower, and appeared on the windowsill.

Gothel stayed still against the baluster of the stairs, in the shadows. The person wasn’t who she thought it would be. It was a man. And he had been running for a while it seemed.

In his hurry, he didn’t even notice the woman watching few meters away. He looked at the window, panting of running, and closed the shutters. Then, with the dim light still piercing, he opened the satchel he was carrying, and, a winning smile on his face, looked at what was inside.

“Alone at last,” he commented, unknowingly lying to himself.

Gothel took a painting brush fallen on the stairs and let it fall in a small thump.

“Who’s there?” shouted the man, realizing he wasn’t alone.

“A friend. Or at least, I’d like to be.”

“Err… Right. I need to leave. Now.”

“If you needed to leave, you wouldn’t have come here,” said Gothel, walking down the stairs until she met a ray of light.

“Who are you?”

“The owner of this tower. And you, you will help me get something that was taken from me.”

“You want me to… steal something? From thieves?”

The man seemed to weigh the pros and cons of this unlikely alliance. Maybe he could have something to win out of this unexpected meeting after all.

“Works for me. Let me be clear,” he said. “If I accept this job, whatever it is, will you help me with some guys I need to get away from?”

“You mean you want your freedom? That can be arranged.”

“Then, I’m your thief. What’s the loot?”

“Do you have a name? Or do I call you thief?”

“Right… Yeah, I thought you were a bit out of my league… Hi, I’m Flynn Rider. Enchanted to make your acquaintance, miss…”

“You don’t need to know my name. What I need you to find is my daughter. She stole something very precious from me. Do you think you can track her?”

“Depends. I’m not usually into tracking people. I’m more about the “getting the loot” part, you see. The Stabbington, on the other hand, could track her.”

“They would help?”

“Hey! Certainly not, those are the guys I need to stay away from. Wait… Why did I just say that? I didn’t mean to.”

“Some things are mine, and magic is one of them. From now on, what you’ll say in this tower will only be the truth.”

“Wait… You’re a witch? I’m definitely out.”

He searched for the shutter’s handle, but found nothing. The whole room was sealed. There was no opening.

“This room was designed so someone could never leave. You weren’t supposed to be this person. But that doesn’t change a thing. I’m the only one who can reopen it. Work for me, and I’ll might consider giving you the freedom you want, Flynn Rider.”

“Want do you want from me?” he asked again, teeth clenched.

“First, I’ll take your bag as guarantee you’ll do as you’re tasked. Then, you will find what I want you to find.”

“You said you wanted me to find your daughter. Is there’s anything I could need to find her?”

“She’ll be easy to find,” said Gothel.

She looked down, and saw her hands. The Sundrop’s power was already dissipating a little. Not much though, but to her, it was the worst that could happen right now.

“Then go find her alone and let me go!” nearly shouted Flynn Rider.

“I can’t,” admitted Gothel, closing her fists. “I can’t find them. You’re a tracker. You’re a thief. You know how to track things. Find them for me. And you’ll be rewarded.”

“Any description, maybe?” insisted Rider with a sigh. “If you really want me to find your daughter, I at least need to know what she looks like!” he added, with the help of her truth spell.

“She has hair… really, really long hair. Unmistakable.”

“That’s the only thing I need to know?”

“I suppose so… If you try anything to hurt her, I’ll have your skin. Bring me back this precious hair, and you’ll be rewarded.”

“Are you alright?”

Gothel hissed in a reflex and backed away in the room. If she wanted the man to help her, she couldn’t let him see any weakness. Or else, she wouldn’t be giving orders anymore.

“I’ll… Do what I can, witch. Can you let me go now?”

She didn’t answer, and simply released the spell locking the place down. As soon as the shutters were reopened, Rider was out. Hopefully, he would do what he was tasked.

She couldn’t go out. Not now. She had cast tons of spells in this tower during all those years. Some to keep the tower hidden, some only to help with simple daily tasks. No matter, this place was filled with magic. It was the only place where she could hope to slow down her affliction. To her, waiting was the least worst choice compared to aging.

Gothel looked to the bag she had taken from the thief. Inside it was a circle metal object. She opened the satchel and gasped, falling on the floor. It couldn’t be… It was the princess’ crown. How? Why? How could it be the man she had tasked to retrieve her daughter, her precious Sundrop, had just stolen Rapunzel’s crown? Things weren’t right from the start.

~ ~ ~

It had already been a day since Cassandra and Rapunzel had fled from the tower. It’s been a day, and yet, they were still in Corona. By then, they could have had the time to be in the neighbor kingdom, or far away on the sea, even though neither of them knew how to sail.

Cassandra had found them a cave, under hills enough far away from the Tower. With the fallen night, the cave was cold, icy, hard and even though, there was warmth in it. For now, they were together, and they would fight anyone who’d try to capture them like Mother had succeeded to do for so long.

“Where are we going now?” asked Rapunzel, shivering in multiples covers around her.

“I… I have no idea, Raps. We’ll find a place. We’ll go there. And we’ll be away from trouble.”

“Did Mother ever tell you of somewhere we could go?”

“Not that I recall. And even if she did, that would be the first place she would go to find us. We have to be unpredictable… How do you feel?”

“Cold. And free too.”

“I’ll get the horse to sleep with us. We could use extra warmth.”

Rapunzel didn’t answer. She had closed her eyes. Cassandra went to sit beside her, bringing another cover around them both. Thoughtlessly, she brought a hand on Rapunzel’s shoulder and head, stroking gently and peacefully.

“Raps… I know you can’t fall asleep this fast… I have something to tell you. You know, that power you have in you… Mother told me about it. A legend. I doubt she ever told you though. But now… I guess it’s not use to keep it from you anymore. It’s the legend of the Sundrop. Someone else told it to me. And I believe this other version is the real one. The Sundrop is told to hold a power of healing, of life. It took the appearance of a Flower long ago, and was stolen. From what I’ve been told, this Flower healed a queen, the queen of the kingdom we are in.”

“What’s a kingdom?”

“Err… That’s the territory we’re living in? We’re in the kingdom of Corona. And the rulers are king Frederic and queen Arianna. You didn’t know that?”

“Well, Mother wasn’t the kind of person to talk about what was outside, and you never told me there was any kingdom. I simply thought the world as a whole. If there was any world out of the tower.”

“Whoa. I actually never thought of it that way… Well, can I continue the story?”

“Go on.”

“So, the queen of Corona was healed by the Flower’s power and she was pregnant at the time.”

“Pregnant?”

“When a woman is carrying a baby…? How much do you ignore of the world and how things work?”

“A lot it seems. I feel useless here. At least, with Mother I would just sing the incantation and live my simple life in the tower… Can we go back?”

“It’s too late now, Raps… If we go back, Mother will kill us.”

“She wouldn’t.”

“Maybe not you because of your power, but me? I don’t even think she would hesitate.”

“Cass… Don’t say that. Why don’t you continue your story?”

“Right. So, the queen was saved by this Sundrop Flower, and her daughter, who was born with already long blond hair and green eyes, was named Rapunzel.”

“You’re kidding?! You just described me!”

“I’m not kidding, Raps. That’s the story, as I heard it. Now it’s your time to hear it too. The story says that the princess, the king and queen’s daughter, was captured not even three days after her birth.”

“You don’t think I’m this princess, right?”

“Raps… I do. And I had doubts for a long time… Everything matches. The princess was born eighteen years ago. You have her name, and the description matches. And… I wanted you to know that before we go too far. I couldn’t tell you in the tower. If by any mean, Mother had known I said that, she would have hurt you. _For your own good_ , she would have said. Don’t tell me I’m delusional. It happened to me.”

“Cass… I’m so sorry she hurt you…”

“The reason was different, but Mother knows best how to hurt. And now that we’re gone, she wouldn’t hesitate to hurt us when she finds us. And if I’m right, and you’re this lost princess from the story, that’s another reason why we can’t stay. This kingdom hates magic. The captain, well, the man who told me the story, he told me that mages, wizards aren’t welcome here.”

“But… you have magic, Cass.”

“I never told him I had. For all he knows, I was just a kid abused by her mother in a lost cottage in the woods. Nothing more. And you want to know why the kingdom hates magic?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me,” said Rapunzel with a caring smile.

“Because the magic Flower that saved the queen and princess caused my mother to break into the castle and kidnap you. The Sundrop saved them, but it doomed them too.”

“And then, where can we go?”

“The captain told me rumors of the place where the Flower once was. He never went there in person, but he gave me directions. Maybe we can start there. Maybe we’ll find a direction for where we’ll be safe.”

“I’m following you wherever you’re going, Cass. I’m not leaving you. Not now, not ever.”

“Same for me, Raps. Now, it’s late. We’ll have to wake up early tomorrow. We better get some sleep.”

She stroke Rapunzel’s shoulder  and side  a bit, before letting herself fall against the cave’s walls. The horse was with them, around the fire.  Though the night was freezing in these parts of the mountain s , they found warmth with each other.

~ ~ ~

“You’re telling us you knew from the start the woman who kidnapped our daughter!?”

King Frederic of Corona usually was someone who could understand and forgive. But today, he couldn’t.

“Your Majesty,” said Xavier, kneeling in the throne room in front of the royal couple, “I knew Gothel long ago. But… She had erased my memory of her somehow. I only recovered it today. I don’t know how… I think it has to do with the flowers that kept the spell…”

“I don’t care of flowers and spells!” shouted Frederic. “I want my daughter back! If she’s alive, and she better be, you will help us find her! That’s an order from your king! Do you understand!?”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“Frederic, you don’t need to be that hard on him,” said queen Arianna. “He came to us on his own accord. You should be thankful.”

“He knew! All this time, he knew! And my family trusted you for centuries, Xavier! For centuries!”

“I know, your Majesty, I know. And I’ll do all that I can to help you find your daughter. And the madwoman who took her from you long ago. I thought she was my friend, all those years ago. From the beginning, I was wrong. I’m sorry, your majesties, I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Xavier,” said Arianna, standing up. “You know magic. Maybe not as much as this witch Gothel, but I’m sure you can help us.”

“I’ll do all in my power to help you, your Majesties.”

This time, instead of shouting the windows off the walls, Frederic settled on growling. He wasn’t in a good mood this day. So, Arianna walked to Xavier, gestured to him to stand up as well, and guided him out of the throne room. While they were walking, she said:

“Let’s go to your library. I’m sure you can find something to help us.”

“I hope too. As soon as my memory was back, I came, I should’ve taken some time to search first.”

“No. No you shouldn’t have done that. Frederic would be even madder if you had kept your researches from us.”

“Well… I hope we’ll find what we’re looking for. I don’t want to disappoint him. Not again.”

Soon, they were out of the castle, and as they reached Xavier’s forge and library, a squadron of guards stood outside the doors, escort for the queen.

Arianna directly went for the books on the many shelves. None were familiar to her, and she hoped they would find something to help her daughter come back home. Xavier had moved the books about magic in a secret room behind a wall, so it wouldn’t be suspicious, would he receive guests, wanted or unwanted. And for that reason, Gothel couldn’t find the books she was after.

“Even when you couldn’t remember this Gothel,” Arianna asked Xavier, “could this magic have helped us find Rapunzel when she was taken years ago?”

“I don’t want to lie to you, your Majesty. I don’t know. When Gothel erased my memory of all I knew about her, I still remembered the Sundrop, a little of magic, but, somehow, it felt wrong. Would we have tried a spell before, I don’t know if I would have been able to cast it. I learned a lot of magic by myself, but Gothel for a long time was part of that training. And if a piece is missing in my memories… I have no idea what could have happened, if we had tried any spell. Maybe it would have worked. Maybe it would have failed. Maybe it would have gave us false information, because I couldn’t remember Gothel, and she was the one who took your daughter… I have no real answer to your question. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, Xavier. You’ve done a lot of great things in your life. Frederic told me you helped save Corona when Herz Der Sonne was the king.”

“That was a long time ago,” said Xavier allowing himself a small chuckle at the memory.

“Yet, you’re still the same man. You want what is good for the city you live in, for the people who live with you. And I want the same for my family. Do you know what we’re looking for?”

“Once again, I’m not sure… I don’t want to sound defeatist, but if Gothel couldn’t find what she was looking for here, what chances could we possibly have?”

“We’ll find. Whatever it is we’re looking for, we’ll find it. And we’ll find my daughter. I have faith in you, Xavier. Don’t let yourself be defined by a failure you weren’t even responsible for.”

“I… thank you, your Majesty.”

Arianna kept looking at the various books on the shelves. She had a hand running on the book’s spines and rolled scrolls. Her other hand was fiddling anxiously with a thread of wool she always had with her. Her own stress reliever from one of her journeys long ago, before her coronation.

“Do you have anything?” she asked Xavier after a while of researches.

“Nothing yet. Your Majesty, may I ask what is it you have?”

“This? Oh, it’s nothing, just a souvenir from a trip I took before meeting Frederic. It helps me when times are difficult.”

“It’s a string of wool. Maybe there’s still hope after all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve heard of a legend once that said that a string of wool could help anyone find their way. Maybe… maybe if we say your way is toward your daughter, this string of wool can help us find our way.”

“I’ve heard of this legend, Xavier, and, this isn’t real.”

“All legends are born of truth. And the past has reminded us that many times. I must have something about it somewhere.”

He exited the room, certainly in search for the legend’s scroll. Arianna followed him, carefully, to the basement. The same basement Demanitus had made into one of his workplaces when he was still alive.

“Xavier, what is this place?”

“Somewhere I kept secret from even your husband, your Majesty. Demanitus used to work here. Maybe… Maybe there’s still something we can use. I won’t give up.”

“Then, what are we looking for? I want to help.”

“A book. This legend is part of a whole mythology. And if Demanitus has done any research on that any times in his life, he must have kept notes and clues for us to use your thread of wool.”

“We’ll find it,” she assured, hopeful.

They searched for a long time. At last, near the end of the evening, Xavier found a book. It wasn’t the book filled with legends he hoped to find. But it was one of Demanitus’ old notebook. Seemed this one was among the very few that didn’t end up in his tomb. Xavier opened it, blowing the dust off the leather covers. He flipped through the pages, and then, from between two pages, a lock of woolen thread fell. It wasn’t a bookmark. It was the key.

“Found it!” shouted Xavier to Arianna, who was scouring the other side of the room.

“What does it say?”

“The writing had seen better days, but I’m sure I’m sure I can get the message.”

He moved to sit at the desk, and took a quill and a piece of paper. Light was dim, as always in the basement, yet, the writing wasn’t a normal one. From it emanated a small light. And it was enough to read it. It took Xavier nearly half an hour, but he got the message.

“It’s the spell. Here’s what it says:

_Herein these lines lies the way to your heart._

_Let the flow of life find what you seek._

_And never shall a flock be parted again,_

_For through this thread you’ll follow through the maze,_

_I hereby rise the light and drop the darkness,_

_That for too long blinded the now all-seeing._ ”

“What does it means?” asked Arianna.

“I’m not sure… I guess it’s the spell. But should we use your piece of wool or the one Demanitus had? I’m not sure.”

“Let’s go upstairs and try this spell. This is all we have so far. We have to try.”

“I’m with you, your Majesty.”

Upstairs, Xavier put both wool threads on the table of the living room, Arianna’s stress reliever and the small thread Demanitus had put in the book.

“I suppose you should have the wool in your hands and be the one to cast the spell,” said Xavier.

“Are you sure? I never did magic before.”

“It’ll be okay. The notes Demanitus wrote say the caster is the one to search for their flock. It’s not me, it’s you, your Majesty. You have to be the caster. Think of your daughter, think of Rapunzel. And recite the spell. It should work.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“It’s a possibility. But we have to try first. Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Arianna took a deep breath, and put the two pieces of wool in her hands, holding them like a precious object her life depended on. She looked at the spell copied by Xavier, thought of the day she nearly died, of the joy she had felt when her daughter was in her arms, only to be taken far away from her way too soon.

She was the mother. She should never had been the last to leave. She would find her daughter. Magic had saved her and Rapunzel that faithful night. Now, magic had to save her family once more.

Her eyes locked on the spell, she recited it, and repeated it over and over. Until the wool in her hands started to move and find a way out of her closed fists. She opened the loose trap and watched with Xavier. The spell had worked. The two threads of wool were growing, as if someone was weaving more and more wool to extend them. All they now had to do was follow them.

“I’m coming, Rapunzel,” whispered Arianna, letting a tear of happiness fall down her cheeks. “Mommy’s coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did Arianna just used Ariadne’s string spell from the Greek mythology? Yup, totally ^^  
> You’ll see, Arianna isn’t a queen who likes to stay passive in this story…


	13. Two tracks and one goal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Showdown time!
> 
> Okay, so, warnings needed for this chapter… warnings that means spoilers… Well, you know what? There are two Ao3 warnings for this fic. One was used in chapter 3, the other is for now 👀  
> I tried to stay with violence that's not much above canon typical.

Tracking. Tracking wasn’t exactly Flynn Rider’s forte, but he had to do it. He had left the loot with the old witch. At least, the Stabbington would have to let him live if they found him. And the witch would protect the loot if they found her. Man, that was a good plan. Unexpected, but still.

His current mission, on the other hand was… disappointing to say the least. He had walked in the forest for all night, looking for any clue. But of course, the old witch hadn’t given him enough information to find this person she asked him to find. Not even a name. Nada. The only clue was long hair. Yeah, thank you witch, as if half of the population didn’t have long hair. Very useful.

He had arrive near the cliffs falling to the sea. Great. A dead-end. At least, if he didn’t find the lost person, he could just find something else to do. Maybe help one of his old buddies escape prison. Was he in Corona’s prison or another one? He had to find that before rushing blindly.

As of now, he was following a trail, not even sure if it was the right one. The trail started at the clearing where the tower was. And it had led him to an abandoned cottage. Surely something awful happened there. The windows and doors were all opened and inside, it was like a hurricane had turned everything upside down. He didn’t stay long there, and kept following the tracks. Now, there wasn’t just foot prints barely visible on the paths anymore. There were hooves and cart tracks too. It was all too easy. For a moment, Rider wondered if it was a trap from the witch. If she had tried to find the person she lost, she would have seen those tracks. They weren’t exactly hidden.

And now there he was, looking down the cliff, the sea raging for miles and miles and miles. He could stay there all day. On his left, far away, one could catch sight of the city of Corona, lone island only connected to the mainland by a single bridge. Well, that was what everybody knew. But as a thief, Flynn Rider knew there was more to it. Though they were known to be treacherous, he had heard many times of the tunnels connecting Corona to the mainland. The whole land was a real Emmentaler, truly. To a point the Corona wall wasn’t even good for anything anymore.

To his right, there were other kingdoms. Depending of the weather, you could only see the neighbor Equis or the next kingdom by the sea, somewhere far away.

Flynn Rider’s daydreaming was cut short by movement by his left. He went carefully back in the woods, ready for anyone to show up. He was still wanted in the kingdom after all. If it was a townspeople or a farmer, they would soon give him their money. If there were guards coming, well, he would flee.

Yet, he didn’t expect two women to come out of the woods, with a horse pulling a cart behind them. The one on the front was dressed like a Coronan spy. Those were the fake military uniforms that were supposed to blend in any crowd. Rider knew of experience he’d rather think twice than to get near anyone dressed like this. The other woman was wearing a dress, but what caught Rider’s eyes was the long, long, oh so long blond mane falling from her head. Okay, so, _that_ was what the witch meant by long hair. Right. Not making fun of creepy old ladies anymore then.

His first thought was to get to them, just do his usual Flynn rider stuff, get them to trust him and then, to the tower, get the loot back and next-mission-thank-you-very-much. Frankly, he didn’t know why he stayed there in the shadows. They were alone. On the cliff. And the lost person he was supposed to find was right there. And he got to admit she was really a sunshine. Had he ever seen someone with so much beauty? Man, she could rival Stalyan, no doubt on that.

The two women were looking at something down the cliff. What could possibly down there? Wait a minute, that was where the guards had found the mythical Flower that saved the queen nearly twenty years ago, wasn’t it?

Flynn Rider cursed silently. Of course. This witch had to get him to a magical place, he who like everybody else in this bloody kingdom feared magic. For all he knew, the women had noticed his presence and would try to trap him, capture him, torture him. Oh, that was bad. He had to leave. Yet, he stayed. Should he go back to the witch tell her he had failed, he couldn’t go empty handed.

“So, this is where the Flower was?” asked Rapunzel, peering down the ledge.

“Seems so,” said Cassandra.

“Do we go down there?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. The path looks kinda slippery, and I don’t trust the look of those black rocks. The captain told me they started to come after the Flower was taken. Some sort of reaction to the lack of magic I guess. I never could ask Mother. She might have an explanation about it.”

“So… Do we just like… Leave? You said we could find a path from here.”

“I said it was a possibility. But now that we’re here, it was foolish. There’s nothing here.”

A rustle came from behind them in the woods. Cassandra immediately readied herself on a fighting stance and gestured to Rapunzel to stay behind her. The rustle came back. Cassandra let the warmth of a flame coat her blade, but soon doused it. No need for magic until she knew what threat she was facing. And this time, they saw the bushes move.

“Who’s there?” shouted Cassandra.

“No need to fight ladies,” said the man coming out of the forest, hands above his head. “Say, that’s a pretty impressive hair you got there. May I…?”

“Don’t you dare take another step,” warned Cassandra, taking a step forward.

“Right… I’ve been tasked by someone to retrieve someone else. We can do this the nice way or the less nice way.”

“Who tasked you?” asked Rapunzel.

“That I could tell, if your friend there would just lower her weapon!”

“I won’t, until you tell us who you are, who you’re working for and what you’re doing here!”

“Whoa, Cass, why are you so aggressive suddenly…?”

“Raps, we can’t trust anyone out there. The captain told me so.”

“And still you trust this captain… Cass, let’s hear what he has to say… Without threatening anyone.”

“Yeah, sure, I’m not the one who’s threatening anyone here,” commented the man. “I literally came out of the forest unarmed and find myself with a sword pointed at me. What a nice meeting ladies!”

Rapunzel put her hand on Cassandra’s arm. She let out a grumble, yet accepted to lower her sword. The tip wasn’t quite touching the ground. And she wasn’t going to put it back in it sheath anytime soon.

“Try anything foolish,” she warned, “and I’ll end you myself.”

“So…” said Rapunzel, “what are you looking for?”

“A witch in a tower told me I had to find her beautiful daughter with magnificent hair. And I believe, milady, that’s you. Flynn Rider, at your service,” he said, bowing theatrically.

“Witch. Tower,” said Cassandra, thoughtful. “Yep, not following you anywhere.”

“Err… Ladies, are those growing glowing rocks normal?”

Cassandra and Rapunzel turned around, only to face new rocks that had sprouted right behind them. All spikes were glowing of a bright blue light, with fibers of lighter colors pulsing like veins through the surface.

“Raps! Your hair! Careful!” shouted Cassandra, taking Rapunzel by the arm to put some distance between her and the glowing rocks.

Because the rocks weren’t the only thing glowing. Her hair was glowing too, like the times when she sang the incantation, but now, no one was singing anything.

They didn’t move, yet, the rocks did, growing slightly bigger by the second. They heard someone running away behind them.

“So he’s playing the big guy but in fact he’s just a damn coward,” commented Cassandra.

“I beg to differ,” retorted Flynn from behind the horse still attached to the cart.

“Then beg.”

“Hey! I won’t let you insult me freely! Who do you think you are?”

As she was walking backward away from the glowing and growing rocks, Cassandra opened the purse from her belt, took a coin out of it, and tossed it to Rider. In trained thief fashion, he caught it perfectly.

“There. Paid insults. Now back off!”

“The witch tasked me to retrieve her daughter! I can’t… I can’t fail. She’s a witch! What we’ll she do to me?!”

“What witches do. Terrible things.”

“Which daughter did she asked you to find?” asked Rapunzel.

“The one with long hair… Hey, say, can I stick with you? You seem to want to avoid her as much as I want!”

“I mean nothing to her,” said Cassandra, unsurprised. “Raps, we have to go and find a place to stay.”

“Can this man come with us?”

“What? No, he can’t. No one can know where we’re going.”

“Cass, he just found us. Should we leave him here, he can find us again. Maybe with Mother. We don’t want that. Plus, something tells me he might know the world out there better than us.”

“Ok, I see your point. Rider, you can come with us. But don’t try anything you might regret.”

“As long as I get to never see any witch again, I’m fine. Where are you headed?”

“We don’t know yet. But we’ll find a pl…”

She couldn’t end her sentence. Part of the ledge fell under the destruction caused by the black rocks. They were still glowing, as if they had a blue fire within. And so was Rapunzel’s hair, glowing with its bright blond color.

At once, they ran away as fast as they could to the woods. But as they did so, the rocks went faster after them. Rapunzel’s hair, flowing behind her, nearly touched the rocks more than once.

“Careful!” reminded her Cassandra more than once too.

But they could do nothing against the coastal wind that was pushing them, and the floating mane.

A single hair brushed a single rock during a single second.

And it was enough. They were all pushed aside by the explosion, flying over meters and falling in the bushes and thorny shrubs.

When their eyes had acclimated to the sudden lightning, they saw the black rocks and Rapunzel’s hair back to their non-glowing normality. But then, new rocks sprouted swiftly out of the earth. They were all back on their feet in an instant, Cassandra holding a still disoriented Rapunzel, herself holding her head in her hands.

The rocks weren’t growing toward them anymore. They were growing east, opposite to the light of the afternoon still high in the sky. And one could even believe they wanted to show something.

~ ~ ~

Earlier that day, three persons left Corona. Leading them was Xavier, then came queen Arianna. The third one was the captain of the guards, who had insisted to come for security reasons. On horseback, they were after the magical trail the thread of wool being weaved by an invisible force showed them. Somewhere away was the lost princess, and for the first time in so many years, they had a chance of finding her. Hope had never left the queen, and Xavier, curse Gothel for her memory spell, literally couldn’t think about it. The captain kept quiet as they rode, trying to figure out if this trail could lead to success or another deception.

As they were soon far away from the city, the captain came to Xavier’s side, while the queen was before them both, following the trail of wool woven on the ground.

“Are you sure this is the way, Xavier?” the soldier asked.

“All we have to do is follow the string of wool. So far, I don’t know where exactly that will lead us. But magic never lies.”

“Magic never lies! _That’s_ a lie.”

Arianna must have heard that, because she asked her horse to slow down to talk to the men.

“Captain, please. Magic is all we have to save my daughter. Have faith.”

“Magic dooms us, your Majesty,” the soldier thought good to say.

“Without magic I’d be dead and my child would be too, captain. I won’t ask twice. Keep those thoughts to yourself.”

On those words, she sped up and came back to the track. There was no time to lose faith in the only thing that could help them.

The trio soon arrived to a clearing. The thread of wool was turning there again and again, like a dog that had found something in the dirt.

“Xavier, is this normal?” Arianna asked.

“I’m not sure,” the blacksmith said, dismounting and looking at the wool in the grass. “There wasn’t a lot of information about the spell. Maybe it stays here a long time because your daughter was here a long time?”

“We shouldn’t trust these methods, your Majesty,” said the captain, joining them both on the ground. “I suggest we go back to Corona, and send a search party.”

“No search party has found a thing in years, captain. Why would today be any different? Let’s see this tower, over there.”

“Your Majesty, I’m not even sure this place is in Corona… We may have crossed the border. We have no diplomatic allowance.”

“Captain. I don’t care if we’re in Corona, Equis, or whatever kingdom we could be in. I’m looking for my daughter. And no frontier, no king nor captain can stand in my path. Is that clear?”

“Crystal clear,” finally accepted the captain.

“Wait,” said Xavier, as Arianna was taking a step forward toward the tower. “I know this place. I’ve been here before. A long time ago. It has changed. It was a very long time ago, but I’m sure this is where king Herz Der Sonne came to me to help him build the tunnels. We’re still in Corona. And there should be a staircase in the back. Follow me.”

Xavier walked first till the back of the tower. But he saw nothing. Until the captain showed a pattern in the stones that proved a hole had been filled. They opened it easily, the wall was made of disjointed dry stones. Inside the seldom used staircase, plants had grown, and they had to take careful steps. The captain insisted to go first, in case anything would wait for them. He told Xavier to be the last of them to go up, as they had to protect the queen.

When the captain was nearly at the room, he was met by the trap slapping close to his head.

“Someone’s up there,” he told the others, readying his sword before trying to open the trap once more.

They heard the sound of steps around the trap, moving inside the room. The captain pushed the trap with a single strong blow and stormed in, sword ready to meet any opposition. He got none. But he saw who had closed the trap.

“You!” he shouted while queen Arianna and Xavier climbed into the room as well.

“You!” repeated Xavier when he saw Gothel standing in front on them.

“You know that woman?” checked Arianna, adopting a defensive stance.

“She lives in the forest, and mistreats her child,” said the captain with disgust.

“That’s Gothel, your Majesty,” said Xavier. “I told you about her this morning. Wait. Captain, you know her?”

“I know her daughter. We’ve met several times. And I saw this woman hurt her! She’s a living danger to anyone near her!”

“Don’t do anything you’d regret,” croaked Gothel, helping herself to stay up by leaning on the stairs railing.

“Gothel, what happened?” asked Xavier.

“You know what happened, old friend. Or else you wouldn’t be here.”

“Where is my daughter, witch?” firmly asked Arianna.

“Gone. Long gone.”

“And where is your daughter? Where is Cassandra?” shouted the captain.

“Gone too. You’re too late. As always,” replied Gothel, letting herself fall on the floor.

“You’re without your magic, Gothel,” understood Xavier. “How long do you think you have?”

“Depends if you help me or not.”

“Help her! Xavier, don’t you dare,” warned the captain.

“Captain,” calmly said Arianna. “As much as I hate to help the woman who killed a part of me by taking my child away, we can’t find Rapunzel if she doesn’t give us answers. Not to mention letting her die before our eyes doesn’t make us better than her. Xavier, if you can, I allow you to help her.”

Xavier walked to Gothel, approaching carefully as one would approach an unpredictable wounded animal. He took out of his pocket a handful of the earth from the Sundrop and recited the incantation.

“This magic is too weak, Xavier,” harshly said Gothel.

“Would you have used the Sundrop like this for all those years, you wouldn’t be there today, dying,” he retorted, standing up and offering her his hand for help. “You and only you put yourself in such a mess.”

“Your Majesty, what do we do now?” asked the captain, already readying a pair of handcuffs.

“We should bring her back to the castle to interrogate her.”

“Captain,” said Xavier, pointing the handcuffs. “That won’t be necessary. She’s a witch. They’ll be of no use. And as for your idea, your Majesty, restraining someone who knows magic is beyond my skills. We can’t take her anywhere without risking ourselves.”

“You speak of me like you’d speak of a feral animal,” said Gothel, standing up the best she could. “I thought you had more dignity left in you, Xavier.”

“For you, old friend, you are far beyond any dignity I could offer. You chose your ways. The least you could do is to assume the consequences.”

“I’ll assume them… But you know my goal.”

“Staying young for as long as this planet lives,” answered Xavier.

“Fool… That’s not it… This was only a way. I only long to prove to all those who despise magic that they are wrong! I long to prove to these demons we thought as friends that we are better than them! I long to take revenge on those who wronged me in the past! And you know how I want to do that, Xavier.”

“The Moonstone. I said that before, it’s only a myth. A beautiful and hopeful myth, but still a myth.”

“The Sundrop wasn’t a myth, old friend. If the Sundrop exists, so does the Moonstone. Find it for me. Then find my children. And prove to the world I was right!”

“I will do no such things! First of all, one of these children isn’t even yours! And they’re gone, Gothel! Gone! You want to save yourself? Help us.”

“Xavier,” interrupted the captain. “We can’t trust her. She’s manipulative.”

“You think I don’t know that, captain? That’s low.”

“Please, we must find a common ground,” firmly reminded them Arianna. “Or else, whatever goal we seek, we will all lose. There’s no need to battle. We should unite.”

“And trust this woman? Your Majesty, you can’t be serious.”

“I am, captain,” affirmed Arianna. “Gothel, where could our daughters have gone to?”

“If I knew, I’d be with them,” spat the witch. “Now leave me be.”

“I’m afraid that’s not going to happen,” said Arianna, taking a step forward, cracking her knuckles. “You’re going to tell us what we want. And trust me when I say that I’ve dealt with worse than you.”

“I won’t tell anything!” Gothel spat again at them three.

She turned around swiftly to a vanity against the wall, holding herself the best she could. She grabbed a drawer’s handle and waited, her face torn between a winner’s smirk and a killer’s eyes. With a creak of the wood, she opened the drawer. All eyes were on her. But not on her hand. And a second later, she had in her fist a dagger.

The captain was the first to leap forward, hoping to catch the weapon. Gothel was weak, but still faster than a man in heavy armor. The pommel hit his back. But soon enough, he turned and saw that he was of no use anymore.

Queen Arianna had the situation under control, and was holding both of Gothel’s wrists, twisting them in a way they couldn’t break, and she had no choice but to let the dagger fall.

“I told you,” the queen said, calculating, “I’ve dealt with worse. Now tell me. Will you help us?”

“I’d rather die!”

At those words, the blade rose from the floor, pointing toward both Gothel and Arianna behind her. The witch struggled, trying to put her opponent in front of her. She managed. For a couple of seconds. Enough for her to drive the blade to its target in a blink of the eye. Enough for Arianna to twist them both and evade the weapon, that barely scratched her shoulder.

Silence fell almost immediately. As did the bloody blade on the floor. And Gothel with it, wounded to the neck, falling on the parquet, hands to her neck, blood pulsing into a red puddle under her head.

They had seen nothing. It all happened so fast. One moment, and Gothel was ready to impale the blade in Arianna's throat. A single second passed and Gothel was the one to receive the deadly blow.

Gasps filled the silence. For a moment, all three standing were statues, impossible to move their glances from the witch’s fatal end, even less move, their feet stuck to the floor.

Xavier was the first to fall on his knees, bringing a hand to Gothel’s wrist, with no hope in mind.

“It’s too late,” he said flatly.

What… how… Too fast, too fast, what happened… A blink and… too late.

“Let’s… Let’s not lose anymore time, gentlemen. We still have my to find daughter. And this woman’s daughter too. Captain, how did you say her name was?”

“Cassandra,” he answered.

“Cassandra,” repeated Arianna, her voice bland. “We’ll find them both. I promise you that. We won’t go back to the castle until we find them both.”

“We’ll follow you, your Majesty. But… what should we do of the body?”

“Was she known?” Arianna asked.

She had her eyes closed, and thoughtlessly crossed her arms to show her determination, but her fists closing around the fabric of her clothes betrayed her shock after what just happened. It didn’t have to end that way. It shouldn’t have. Could she face her daughter and tell her she had killed the woman who had captured her? It shouldn’t have ended like this.

“Not much, as far as I can recall,” answered the captain.

“Then we’ll take the body and leave her in the woods. I… We have to move on. Will you be all right?”

“I think,” said the captain. “Will you, your Majesty?”

“I have to. Let’s go. We’ve already lost too much time.”

She was already going down the stairs. Xavier and the captain exchanged a worried look, yet settled to take Gothel with them and followed their queen.

When they were back at the tower’s base, Gothel wasn’t with them. Time had caught her body. She was gone for good.

Yet, she had left them something. Fallen in a bush, she had thrown the thief’s satchel from the window, for lack of better hiding place for what it contained. It had been a reflex, a foolish one, Gothel had thought right after doing it. She had heard several people coming, she had feared and threw the satchel through the window, even though it could have been the thief and her daughters. It had been foolish, but a reflex nevertheless. No doubt she had thought of getting it back later, after getting rid of the unwanted guests.

But now, it was queen Arianna who was holding the satchel, and finding what was hidden inside it. And the gasp she let out when she saw her lost daughter’s stolen crown alerted her companions. If it was there, they had no time no lose. Not anymore. Who knew who else was after those they were trying to save?

~ ~ ~

That day, all in Corona saw the explosion in the sky. Some said it was some angry god sending a message, some said it was a bad storm raging afar with blinding thunder, some said it was magic coming back to doom them all. But in the end on the day, nothing had changed, and though there was this dreadful atmosphere, most of the people soon forgot about it, and went back to their occupations. And none saw the real danger the explosion hid.

High in the sky, away from sight, a rift opened in the ether. A rift in reality. It cracked open, like a celestial egg cut by the edge of the black rocks finding the Sundrop. And it released something. One could say someone. Even, two persons fell from the rift, and fell somewhere on the lands below.

They didn’t fell together, to crash on the same place. No, with the Earth moving below, with the winds storming, they drove them to fall far away from each other. Good riddance, each thought, centuries with each other in a faraway dimension and now they were free. Free from their prison, free from their raging master, free from the incessant bickering. But yet not free from any quest yet to finish. A cosmic artifact was still yet to be found. And both would be on its tracks. For the better. Or the worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vade retro Gothel!
> 
> Early outline around this chapter:  
> After finding Raps & Cass, I had Flynn cut Raps’ hair to go back to the tower and just have his part of the deal done… and Gothel, in her grand generosity, would grant him his freedom permanently… by killing him ^^’  
> As you can see, I didn’t keep it ^^


	14. Finding family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short note about the last chapter: the more I reread it, the more it felt unfinished… So, I edited a bit the showdown with Gothel and her passing. Not much, but now it feels to me less rushed.

The blow from the glowing black rocks had dissipated away, bowing the first lines of trees in the forest. No doubt the sound and light have been seen from miles around. But still, there wasn’t much to do about it. Only get away as soon as possible.

And so, that was what Cassandra and Rapunzel were doing, still followed by Flynn Rider like a gull around an appetizing meal. Still, they were all dazzled by the magical light show that came out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere in fact. They knew it had to do with the Sundrop myth, that wasn’t a myth anymore. And if Cassandra and Rapunzel seemed to handle this pretty well, it wasn’t the same for the magic septic thief.

“Why are you following us again?” asked Cassandra to Rider after a while of walking without any real destination.

“I’m going as far as possible from the witch. True, she has something that is mine, but I’d rather lose that than my life.”

“What did you lose?” asked Rapunzel, who had stopped walking ahead to get to their sides.

“Let’s just say it’s something I found.”

“You mean stole,” understood Cassandra.

“I mean what I said,” pouted the thief. “Say, ladies, why don’t we settle camp for the night? I’m sure we deserve a good night sleep after what we all know happened.”

“The sun is still high,” commented Rapunzel. “But I guess it can’t hurt to take a break. What do you say, Cass?”

“I say we keep moving. Mother is certainly after us, if not lurking in the shadows right behind us. We have to get going.”

“Well, if miss dragon lady says so… What can we hope to say?”

“Call me that again and you’ll lose your tongue!”

“Guys, please, stop bickering,” pleaded Rapunzel. “We’re all tired. Let’s just take a break. Flynn Rider, do you know how to make a fire? Cass, I know you can hunt, can you find us something?”

“Let’s just take one of these hams we got from the cottage,” said Cassandra, already going to the cart.

“Say no more, I’ll get a fire starting,” just said Rider.

“Right. I saw a river nearby, I’ll get us some water.”

Rapunzel walked away, an empty skin in hands. The horse, unharnessed from the cart, was grazing around. Sitting on a log, Cassandra was slicing large portions of ham for them to eat. After a while, the fire was cracking gently, iridescing the air around with warm orange blazes, small embers flying with the wind.

Soon enough, Cassandra was done with the ham, Owl already eating his share, and she took her whetstone to sharpen the blade of her sword. But a rather annoying whistling stopped her perfect moment. And it worsened when Flynn Rider sat next to her on the log, still whistling. She made the stone screech on purpose against the blade, and that, thankfully, was enough to make him stop.

“There’s no one around us. You don’t have to sit right there,” she said, resuming her work.

“I have a question for you actually,” he said, waiting for her to react in any way.

She nodded, more bored by him watching her waiting than because of any interest in the conversation.

“So,” he started again, “I was wondering, you and your friend there, do you have anyone, well, I mean, for the road, someone who could help you get away from the witch or…”

“Or what? That’s not of your business.”

“Well, I was like “if these girls can get away from that witch, so can I, better stick with you.” So I’m asking. That’s all.”

“Cut it out. That’s not what you really meant,” she accused. “I know how this ends. Uncaring man sees naive and young ladies alone, they disappear and a week later we find their bodies down a river. That’s not happening. Not on my watch.”

“Whoa… that’s dark. Who told you such things?”

“The captain.”

“Right. A guy whose whole life is solving crimes. Lighten up, girl, the world isn’t all crimes.”

“So far I’m with a thief who was sent to track and subdue my friend and I on behalf of a witch who only wants to control us. I dare you to tell me there aren’t any crime there.”

“Technically, I’m not taking orders from her anymore.”

Cassandra wasn’t listening to his excuses. She stood up, watching Rapunzel coming back with the skin full of water. At least, for now she seemed to handle pretty well life outside the tower. She looked happier, freer, and it was all Cassandra wanted to see.

They ate in silence, but when Rapunzel trying to start a conversation, Cassandra or Flynn always cut it short. So much for befriending people. They all took their time, and when the sun started to hide behind the horizon, they hadn’t finished dinner for a long time.

When came the time to sleep, they put out the fire, and dispersed around the camp. Rapunzel went just near the still warm burned wood, wrapping herself and her long unbraided hair in covers. Flynn Rider, not trusting the dead-eye stare Cassandra kept sending him, went further away, near the horse and the cart.

Cassandra chose to keep first watch. She was sat on the log, her sword against her legs ready to be grabbed and used against whoever would try anything. Assuming that anyone would come in this part of the forest, not far from the cursed magical artifact and where a giant explosion happened just hours ago. The first thing that caught her attention was Rapunzel moving nearby, causing a little rustle in the silence of the night.

“Cass,” she heard her say, “come sleep. Owl can keep watch. He’s done that for a long time.”

“He’ll go hunt.”

“He has eaten a bit of ham. He’ll keep watch. Come and sleep with me. It’s freezing without you.”

Cassandra couldn’t hide her smile at the comment. True, they had never actually _slept_ side by side as they spent most of their time in the tower awake. Yet sometimes, they would cuddle together in the warm covers, mostly during the cold winter days, and slumber in each other’s arms. And the life on the road shouldn’t keep them away from these moments together.

And now, this last two days – or was it three days already? – away from the tower had brought them even closer than before. Before the coming of the thief, they only had each other after all. And keeping each other close was important. Crucial, even.

So, it was very normally that Cassandra went next to Rapunzel, slipping herself under the already warm covers to welcome a good night sleep. She kept her sword within her hand’s reach, in case of anything happening during the night.

“I won’t let you down,” she told Rapunzel, punctuating with a yawn.

“I know Cass. That’s why I love you.”

“You… Do?”

“Of course I do,” she giggled in the dark. “Cass, ever since you came at the tower, each time I say those words to Mother, they feel more and more empty. And each time I say them, I think about you, and for you, they feel truer than ever. I love you Cass. Do… You?”

“I love you too Raps,” she said with a relieved sigh.

She took one of Rapunzel’s hand in hers, and brought it to her face to give her a good night kiss on her cold knuckles. But as soon as her lips brushed the skin, she felt Rapunzel’s other hand gently placed on her cheek. There was only the dark of the night that could hide Cassandra’s blush under the soft touch.

“I just realized you didn’t kiss me since we left the tower,” noted Rapunzel with a smooth voice.

“I… Maybe before wasn’t the time,” assumed Cassandra, moving closer to her beloved.

“And what time is now then?”

“The right time,” answered Cassandra, closing the gap between their faces at once, as she left her hands wander on Rapunzel’s back and shoulders to bring her closer, until they were pressed against each other, with only their clothes to keep them apart.

They were alone. Nothing more than the proximity with their loved one mattered anymore. Not the waves against the cliffs, nor the slowly rising coastal wind, nor the dim lantern light that came from far away in the forest, nor the neigh the horse let out when Flynn Rider stood up to walk in the forest. They were so tired and peaceful together, Morpheus was already holding them in her arms.

As for Flynn Rider, there were two reasons for his movements. The first one, closer to him, was the private – if not intimate, that was none of his concern – scene that was happening in the campsite. The second one was that strange light away in the woods.

It looked like someone was walking toward them, but it was night, and frankly, aside from their group, there was nothing there. Usually, there was literally nothing. Why would anyone come in a place where there was nothing? That was a question to which Rider didn’t have any answer, if not one that would imply that the people coming was, or maybe were thieves and that this place was one of their lairs. The world of thievery was a vast one, and he couldn’t say he knew all that was to know about it.

Flynn Rider walked further into the forest, toward the light. If they were a lost soul, he would soon have a handful of their money in his possession, and the ladies would never need to know anyone was near the camp that night.

But something wasn’t right. It was faint, but for an instant, he swore he saw a glimmer flicker behind the lantern’s light. As the light approached, the glimmer appeared once more, and he understood at once what it meant. The light was reflecting against a metal plate. An ornated metal plate. An armor.

Flynn Rider ran away. That wasn’t just any lost person in the forest. It was a soldier. And what was this soldier doing there, he didn’t care to know. He was a wanted man after all.

He ran to the camp, and grabbed the horse’s mane, urging the mount to stand up. But she didn’t move. The ladies were asleep. He would’ve swore the weapon lover one would be a light sleeper but, it seemed in the arms of the other woman, she wasn’t so much. He couldn't see her smirk when she heard him move away.

There was no time to wake them up and suffer her grumpiness. It was as always. Each man – and woman right now – for themselves. Flynn Rider flew away, not looking back a single time.

He was far when the shadow of the soldier coming reached the camp. Owl was on a branch, up on a tree. He didn’t hoot a sound. He knew the man. There was no need to alarm his human friend about an ally.

The captain was the first to arrive. Xavier and Arianna weren’t far behind, only few meters away, in case anything happened and they needed to be away. He saw the cold fire, with little embers still cracking between the charcoal in the silence of the night. And between the extinguished fire and him, behind a bush, there was a shadow. It wasn’t a stone, it was smoother. As he approached, he recognized a woolly cover. He held a hand up to tell his followers to stop on their tracks.

Unsheathing his sword, he extended his arm toward the cover, slowly exposing those under it. And his first reaction was to back away in a rush. Cassandra had the reflexes he had told her, and she was holding her own sword toward him, maintaining the distance between them. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness to recognize the man standing in front of her, he let his sword fell on the ground, and it made no sound on the grass.

“What are you doing here?” was the first thing Cassandra could ask in a loud whisper, while slowly getting out of the covers.

“We were worried, we came to search for you… And the princess…”

“So… You know that I knew…” she understood, before realizing: “Wait, who are “we”?”

“I came with Xavier, a friend, and queen Arianna.”

“What have you told them?”

“What would I have told them, Cassandra? I only understood you may have known the lost princess today. Is… it true?”

“I don’t even know if I want to know right now, captain.”

“Captain? What have you found?” asked a female voice behind.

“It’s okay, your Majesty, you can come,” replied the captain, turning toward them.

Still half hidden under the covers, Rapunzel was slowly awaken by the voices around her. She opened her eyes, only seeing part of the scene, and listened carefully. Cassandra seemed to know the man who had arrived first, but what of the others? She waited. Better wait than rush into a trap.

“Captain,” said Cassandra, “what are you and these people doing here? How did you even find us?”

“We followed a magical trail,” explained the other man of the trio, who looked way older than the captain. “It led us to you both.”

“Where is Rapunzel?” asked the woman behind them, shoving them both aside as she arrived at the campsite.

“And you are?” checked Cassandra, pointing defensively her sword toward her.

“Cassandra,” hissed the captain, “lower your weapon, she’s the queen.”

“It’s okay, captain,” said Arianna, walking forward gently. “She’s just protection herself and her friend. We would all do that in such situation.”

“So… You’re the queen,” repeated Cassandra, letting her sword fall on the ground.

“Yes.”

“Through where did you pass to come here?” asked Cassandra, foreseeing where their path had led them.

“A tower,” said Arianna. “I assume from what we saw there that you knew it.”

“Was she there?”

“Pardon me, who?”

“Is Gothel on our trail too?”

“Gothel? Oh, yes, you mean the witch. I… She won’t bother you anymore.”

“She won’t?” repeated Cassandra, not trusting those words.

“She won’t…” repeated Arianna with a grieving voice. “I’m sorry.”

“She’s… gone…”

Cassandra lost the ground under her feet and fell on her knees. Mother, her mother was gone. All she had done was gone. All the pain she had made her suffer, all the strife and everyday harm, all of that was gone. At last. But… Those weren’t the only things gone. Her only parent was gone. The only one who raised her was gone. No matter who horrible, who sorrowful Gothel had made her childhood into hell, she was still her mother.

“I’m sorry,” repeated Arianna, kneeling in front of her, on the other side of the cover under which, still unknowingly to her, was Rapunzel.

“What will happen now?” asked Cassandra.

“You can choose,” said Arianna. “No one will try to chain you anymore.”

“It’s more than that. We don’t know the world. And we’re gone. And Mother’s gone too! And we know nothing out there!”

“We?” asked Arianna.

“Raps… I think you can come out,” said Cassandra, softly nudging the cover.

From under the woolly cover crawled Rapunzel, still very uncertain about revealing her presence to these new and unknown people who seemed to know her. As soon as she was out of the cover, she leaned toward Cassandra, the only one she knew she could trust. She took her arm and embraced it, holding on to the protection her only friend would bring her.

“It’s okay, Raps,” Cassandra said, looking at her with teary eyes yet a free smile. “Mother can’t hurt us anymore.”

“She won’t?”

“You heard us. She won’t,” assured Cassandra, returning the embrace and letting the tears she was holding back fall at last.

They stayed like this for whole minutes, holding each other, supporting each other in their grief, in their pain, and more importantly, in their deliverance. Mother, Gothel, the one who was keeping them away from each other, who never wanted them to even meet each other for as long as she wanted to, who was hiding them both from the world, she was gone. For good. And as much as it hurt them to have lost the only parent they knew, it freed them as well, and even more than it could ever hurt.

It took them a long time before hearing the shuffle of the two men nearby sitting on the ground next to Arianna. Only then did they allow themselves to part and look at the newcomers. The captain had lit again the fire, and now they could see them better. They were all smiling widely, which felt strange at first, yet also oddly familiar and comforting.

When they felt their voice coming back enough through the tears and sadness, Cassandra was the first to talk to the newcomers.

“Do… Do you know what happened?”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it,” was the only thing Arianna said, putting a hand before the two men accompanying her to silent them before any could speak.

Still, the captain spoke, few seconds after her.

“It was an accident, Cassandra,” he said. “I take all responsibility, if you deem it necessary.”

“You’re lying, captain,” she understood. “You did this?” she asked the queen.

“It was an accident. Gothel was threatening us.”

“It was her or us,” insisted Xavier.

“So… What’s going to happen to us?” asked Rapunzel with a small voice, still holding firmly Cassandra’s arm.

“If I may,” started Arianna, gently moving toward them until she was less than a meter away from them, “you are Rapunzel, am I right?”

“… Yes.”

“This might sound insane but, I’m your mother.”

“You just said Mother is gone!” yelled Rapunzel through grieving tears.

“I meant your real mother. Your birth mother,” explained Arianna.

“Raps, you remember the story I told you the night we were gone? About the Sundrop and the king and queen of this kingdom?” tried Cassandra.

“A little…”

“I am the queen of Corona, Rapunzel, and I am your mother.”

“Take your time,” said Cassandra, feeling her friend’s tensing at those words.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like you to come to Corona,” said Arianna. “So we can care for you.”

“Why would we trust you?” asked Cassandra.

“I believe you know the captain of the guard. He’ll be with us. He’s like me, like Xavier, he only wants what’s best for you both.”

“And then what?” insisted Cassandra. “Will we have to stay in the city? Will we be able to go away as we wish to? Will Rapunzel have to take a place as princess she didn’t even know she had a week ago?!”

“One thing at a time,” reassured her Arianna with a motherly smile. “I can’t have you change your lives at once and pretend nothing happened. We’re taking you to Corona. Even if you stay only for days. The lanterns are tonight. I don’t want to go back to the castle alone, knowing that the one who those lanterns are for is out there, away from her family.”

“We could see the lanterns?” checked Rapunzel, even more awakened by this proposition than by meeting her real mother.

After all, those lanterns were the only link to her past she ever had. It meant more to her that a stranger she had just met in the woods. At her reaction, Arianna didn’t hide her chuckle.

“Yes, you could see the lanterns. You both need some rest, some food and some tranquility. We can give you that.”

“But why are you even doing that for us?” asked Cassandra. “You’re the queen, you’ve found your daughter, why don’t you just go back to the castle and organize some big welcoming party? I don’t get it.”

“A big party would be what my husband, Rapunzel’s father, would certainly do,” admitted Arianna. “But I’ve traveled more than he ever did. I’ve met thousands of people who had lived all very different lives. And if there’s something I’ve learned, it’s that someone whose life is about to change utterly needs time. I want to give you that time. You need that time. To acclimate to the city, to know us better. To trust us because we have weapons, armors, ranks… It isn’t trust. It’s dominance. Pardon me, captain, but it is,” she insisted when she heard the captain’s indiscreet scoff behind her. “I know we can’t ask you to follow us blindly. That’s why I’m asking you to come with us, because you have nowhere else to go, because you, Cassandra, know the captain and, I guess, trust him.”

“I trust him, yes,” Cassandra admitted. “So, what do you say, Raps? Do we go with them?”

“Where else could we go?” asked Rapunzel, already knowing the answer.

“Nowhere,” sighed Cassandra. “We’re going with you, your Majesty.”

“Please, call me Arianna,” she said, standing up and extending her hand to help them up as well.

They gladly took her hand, one at a time, Rapunzel first then Cassandra.

Away, in the city of Corona, people started to get out in the streets, lanterns yet to be lighted in hands, readying them for the show to come.

~ ~ ~

“Hey! Let go of me!” screamed Flynn Rider, held a good half-meter above the ground, back against a tree.

His opponent didn’t respond.

“Come on! Say something or let me go!”

“You were close from the explosion’s center,” she stated.

“Yeah, and I’d like to get away as fast as I can but I can’t because some weirdo just stopped me!”

She threw him away on the ground.

“I’m not a weirdo. Eccentric maybe, but weirdo? Let give you some free advice. Find the Sundrop. And keep her on the path laid for her.”

“The Sundrop? What nonsense is it now?!” he sputtered while stumbling to stand up.

“You’ve met her already,” reminded his opponent, cryptic as ever.

“The girl with golden hair?”

The woman nodded.

“Yeah, not going back. She has magic. And I don’t do magic.”

“You will,” she assured him, turning her head and revealing her two sided face under the dim light of the moon. “I’ve followed you for a long time. You will do as I say.”

“Nope,” he firmly said.

She unsheathed her large black bladed sword and pointed it toward him, until the extremity pushed him back against the tree.

“Put that away,” he ordered, unconvincingly.

She was about to indeed put the menacing sword away, but she noticed, around his neck, a thin deeply black metal chain, a pendant hidden under his shirt. She titled her head interrogatively and gestured to the chain, hoping he would understand her request.

“That? Nope, you won’t silent me by taking this from me.”

“I don’t want to take it from you,” she responded, clearly offended by his assumption. “Show me the pendant.”

“I guess I don’t get to say no?”

As only answer, she brought her blade closer to him, until he could nearly see the gleaming blue veins of the rocks it was from. There was a gulp, and he finally obeyed, taking the pendant made of black metal.

It was a round pendant, forged with a circle half the size of a closed fist. On this circle had been added three spiked pointing toward the center like three arrows on a target. Or like three shards of black rocks guiding to a lost kingdom.

“You can keep it,” finally said the warrior, putting her unusual sword back in its sheath on her back. “You’ll need it on your journey.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You never stole that, am I right?”

“No, I have it since my childhood. My first belonging ever. You know what it means?” asked Flynn Rider, hopeful.

“I do. And so will you. In time.”

“Can’t you tell?!”

He blinked just an instant and she was gone. Where she stood on the grass were only the trace of her high leather boots, but other than that, there was no sign of her presence. She was gone so fast, he didn’t even notice the emblem of his pendant was the same emblem she bore tattooed on the back of her hand.

“Did I dream all that?” asked himself Rider, looking at his pendant, silent remnant of a past he never knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!  
> We’ve reached the end of this second part!  
> Thank you so much for reading, kudo-ing and commenting this story! 🤗  
> I had fun writing all this!
> 
> As you can guess with the clues at the end of the last chapter and this one, this won’t be the end, I’ve got a third part coming.  
> It’ll start just hours after the end of this chapter, it’s the direct follow-up, no time-jump like between the first and second part.  
> In a way, the next chapter will be both epilogue to this second part and prologue to the third.  
> I just want to note that I chose to cut in two parts because we’ve got a lot more characters, new storylines, tags that’ll need to be adapted, etc. And I cut here because... err, well, it felt more logical, considering the moon and sun aren't eclisped anymore now 😅  
> Hence, the title of the third part that will be “A Tale of a Universe Lit Anew”.  
> (Thanks to ceciliasol for pointing out the error on the previous version of this title ^^)
> 
> I’ll be taking a couple of days of hiatus first, as to be sure where we’re going in the far plot… I’m currently writing the 19th chapter so maybe the hiatus won't be that long and I may come back next week depending on how much the school schedule allows me to write… 👀
> 
> See you there!

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave kudos and comments they're welcomed helps to progress! 🤗  
> As English isn't my first language, please let me know if you see some grammatical errors ^^


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